If a Fish Could Talk

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” - Carl Rogers, founder of person-centered psychotherapyYou might be surprised to learn you can have a conversation with a fish that is swimming in a fish tank. I know because I once had one.During the ages 16 and 17, I walked past a fish tank hundreds of times as I came and went to clinic at the National Institutes of Health where I received treatment for my bone cancer. The tank stood against a wall in the waiting room, in between the elevators and the bathroom. For a cancer patient, no room is more important than the bathroom, besides the infusion room which was down another hall.One fish in the tank was bigger and, I thought, uglier than the others, which led me to follow my dad ’s logic that the bigger and uglier a creature, the older it is. This one must’ve been the Donald Trump of fish.“You lucky fish,” I told this big ugly fish one afternoon on my way to the bathroom after I finished getting mychemo drips for the day. “You can just pee right there in your tank, but I must get up to pee in a specific porcelain bowl while groggy, on crutches, nauseous and exhausted.”The fish didn ’t respond. I didn’t think he would, though he did follow me with his eyes by pivoting in his pee water.The next morning before I got my chemo, I sat in the red cushioned chair that faced the tank and watched this big ugly fish in the waiting room. He recognized me, I ’m sure of it, because ...
Source: cancerslayerblog - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: animals imaginative life lessons super model Source Type: blogs