Writing From The Body

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I THOUGHT GETTING OLD WOULD TAKE LONGER I THOUGHT GETTING OLD WOULD TAKE LONGER

The below poem is from my soon to be released poetry book I THOUGHT GETTING OLD WOULD TAKE LONGER which is dedicated to my dear friend and colleague the late Robert Bly. The collection focuses on love found and lost, things and people that came and went, and the way nature can educate and inform the aging process itself.

I hope you will find these heartfelt poems touching at best or thoughtful at the very least while peeking into my journey into elderhood.

GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE

I’m closing the Feeling Factory. I have fired all my old
employees. Sadness my senior manager had been with
me for decades. Loneliness was just plain lazy and was
always late for work, and I could never trust him. Anger
tried to unionize the other workers several years ago; no
love lost there. Disappointment the delivery guy would
sit in the company van and smoke a joint every day at
lunch and when he was done, he just acted weird. Joy was
my most recent hire before closing, but she almost never
showed up or was always running late. She stayed out all
night dancing. Happiness was hired over two years ago
but he was just too mercurial. I guess he figured what
was the point?

So, you still can get some good bargains on the feeling
books we produced here at the Feeling Factory. But hurry
all the doors are closing soon. And yes, I’ve been offered a
job at UPS as a delivery man because they saw I still had
pretty good-looking legs for their brown shorts, even at
my age.

If you or someone you know would like to have an in person or video session while I'm in Asheville, North Carolina, please email [email protected] today to schedule your session.

Are you feeling stuck in your personal or professional life? Are there things that are holding you back from reaching your full potential? If so, then we have a special offer for you! 😊

We're offering one- and two-day intensive sessions with John in Asheville, NC, where he will work with you to explore and solve problems. We also have regular 50-minute in-person and video or live sessions available if you prefer something more traditional.

Don’t pass up this opportunity—email [email protected] today to schedule yours!

I hope you'll join me for a live webinar for WisdomFeed on my new topic, From Hero to Elder: The Odyssey of Aging June 19 from 7 to 9pm Eastern Time. Please sign up today

From Hero to Elder: The Odyssey of Aging with JOHN LEE - Wisdom Feed For many men and women, the first forty is best characterized by living out what the mythologist Joseph Campbell called, “The Heroes’ Journey.”

I hope you’ll join me for a unique webinar I’ll be presenting for Higher Thought Institute on April 6, 2024 (10 AM to 1:15 PM EDT)
The two topics I’ll cover are sure to greatly improve your relationships with others.

Session 1 - The Anger Solution: Working with the Most Misunderstood Emotion
The Anger Solution is based on my exciting book that is the culmination of over two decades’ work in the field of anger management. The Anger Solution provides a revolutionary approach for therapists, counselors, coaches, human resource personnel, spouses, and the general public to work effectively and elegantly with an often-confusing emotion. Finally, there is a simple and down-to-earth way of working with a feeling that every human being has a right to express.

Session 2 - Emotional Regression: The Best-Kept Secret in Psychology and Personal Growth
Based on my bestselling book, Growing Yourself Back Up published by Random House. By working with emotional regression, we can reduce many destructive behaviors like going numb, creating walls of silence, expressing anger inappropriately, walking out, miscommunicating, misunderstanding, overreacting, under reacting, and much more.
To learn more or Register: Higher Thought Institute

April 6, 2024 John Lee, MA Webinar - Higher Thought Institute East Meets West in Psychotherapy:

One of my favorite things over the last 35 years or so is to coach and council writers, artists, and dreamers! Thank all all of you who have given me this opportunity and joy!!

I’m Not Your Mother and I’m Not Your Father: How We Speak to Adults

“…all spoke the same language. That was the time when words were like magic…” Inuit

If you are not my parent, why do I feel like a child?

Growing up in Alabama, or at least trying to, my mother almost always talked to my dad as if he were her son or her father. Dad most often interacted with my mother like she was his daughter or his mother.

The language, tone, and style never (or almost never) were adult to adult. Now, I’m not the only Alabama man who had this unequal, paternal and maternal mode set in stone by the time I came out of the womb but mastered it shortly thereafter.

“Why did you leave your clothes on the floor?”

“When are you going into therapy?”

“No matter how many times I tell you…”

“You should call your parents.”

“Why do you let the garbage or the bills pile up before attending to them?”

Folks these are statements and others like them suggest they are being spoken to a child or an unruly adolescent, but men and women – intelligent, well-educated adults – speak to each other this way on a daily basis.

“You’re not going to work dressed like that are you?”

“Honey, you need to change your dress because it’s too revealing.”

I think you get my drift. Well some couples are drowning in this sea of unsolicited criticism and all the while not exactly knowing a better way because we’ve been talking like this and hearing others talk down to or up to but never unilaterally, respectfully, and balanced.

I’ve been studying, reading, learning, and practicing a better way of communicating for over 35 years and I still slip as I’m sure most of you do.

In my next blog post, I’m going to introduce a communication concept I call “compassionate assertiveness” and how to say “No” to unsolicited criticism.

I hope you’ll join me and until then we all must remember as often as we can to try and speak this almost foreign language called “adult-to-adult.”

“Moment by moment, things are losing their hardness; now even my body lets the light through.” Virginia Woolf

Thanks to Carol Teitelbaum and Robert Teitelbaum for re-issuing my book, The Flying Boy: The Journey Continues. I hope you'll check it out and find it useful in some way.

Part 2! Ready to continue this journey??
https://www.teitelbaumpublishing.com/

John Herald Lee I'm humbled and proud to share my latest book, Where Do I Go From Her: Reflections on Love to Loss to Love, and I'm very grateful to Robert Teitelbaum and Carol Teitelbaum for making it possible. I hope readers will find something that will help in some way. Please order at https://www.amazon.com/.../ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_jar.... Thank you

The latest review for Where Do I Go From Her by John Lee