Yes. It is that important to get its own page. Understanding why I love psychology probably allows some of the biggest insight into my life....It's not like I always knew that this is what I wanted to study or anything, I actually did not have plans to attend college when I graduated from that horrible place our society calls high school...instead I had big plans to get certified in cosmetology and perhaps one day move to NY. God certainly interrupted that...
I took an intro to Psych my last semester in high school and it left an impression on me but I never considered dreaming as big as a Ph.D...again God. Somehow a year later I found myself at Trident Tech following a path I knew nothing about and had a life altering semester. It started with a 101 course in Sociology then British Lit and finally Interpersonal Communication where the aspirations to study Psychology were solidified. That was the class where I was introduced to Mr. Carl Rogers...
Carl Rogers. A psychologist whom I would have to say has changed my life as an aspiring psychologist, and to whom I can credit my first speech to. He is remembered greatest for his contributions to the world of humanistic psychology and his ideas of psychotherapy. He was certainly not the most prominent in history and tends to be over shadowed by the other big players... So why would I consider him to be inspirational? It is certainly not because I dream of being a behaviorist someday ( I don't) but it is because of a lecture he gave that is recorded in A Way of Being where he drew a comparison of people and sunsets. He believed that people are just as wonderful as sunsets, especially if we can just let them be and unfold in front of us and then wonder at the beauty and uniqueness of the colors inside of them. It activated something in my thought process and truly changed the way I began to view individuals, even in that class. At that time in my life I had not yet grasped the intensity of psychology and merely liked the title and what it represented…and even now I know the world holds an entire body of knowledge that I have yet to encounter…As I read and re-read his work I find him so illuminating, and on some level I feel I relate to him...his need to explain his reasoning before he even states his thought…his love for the raw human expression…these are things that I cherish, that if I encounter in a single day out of hundreds, it makes my life have meaning…to know that I connected with another human being on that level. This is perhaps why I find it ironic that my very first speech, which was delivered in a small class room with maybe twenty five students and sweaty palms, was given on Carl Roger and his Way of Being.
For those who may venture to read this blurb it may seem silly and I also take the risk of sounding slightly crazy, that's ok though because to me it is inspiring, it reminds me why I am doing what I do…and why I must struggle through some difficult seasons in order to get one step closer to being an individual who is able to conceptualize human behavior and identify with individuals the way that Carl Rogers was. So here's to you Mr. Rogers...
“When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.”
