Tip 35 - Motivation
It took a lot of reading to get any inspiration to write a blog on tip 35 even though the topic peaked my interest. Finally I came to a part that inspired me and was a match for my own philosophy. It stated that today’s treatment included a broad range of action. In other words it is holistic. A new age term but so appropriate. We are now considering a person’s health, employment, reduction in criminal activity, and more than anything we are considering if it is improving a person’s life. Is there more joy, hope, intimacy, and self-worth through productive action. I like to ask myself if I am doing anything that I would like to write home about.
Here the attention is not so much on the drug but on life. I was recently talking to a friend who has liver failure and is living in a convalescent home. I said it sucks getting old doesn’t it. And she said, “I’m not concerned about getting old. I’m concerned about living. When I feel depression coming on I know that it will disappear if I get into action. Even doing the dishes works. Indeed there are AA meetings that I have gone to that made me want to head to the bar. Even in AA meetings they say to talk about how it was, what we did to change, and how it is now. And then they suggest that most of the conversation is on how it is now. That would be the living part.
I was also interested in the statement, “motivation was viewed as a static trait or disposition…Furthermore, motivation was often viewed as the client’s responsibility, not the clinician’s. This caught me off guard because I had no idea why it would be the clinician’s responsibility. And here they went into the counselor’s style as being the most often ignored but the most important. This gave me hope that I may succeed in this field as the style entails the ability to develop a trust with a helping alliance. They also named nonpossessive warmth, friendliness, genuineness, respect, affirmation, and empathy. This certainly sounds like the kind of person I would aspire to be.
