The Office Fish Tank

[Margaret(Marge) Wetherell Maycoc]

Some of you may be able to relate to this if you knew Bob and had seen him as a client as I long as I had. I have been thinking about some of my previous sessions lately with Bob from a long time ago and have been writing them down. At one point in the '80's, he used some Ericksonian hypnosis and neurolinguistic programming techniques with me to help oversome panic attacks without medication. This was when he had his office on Bouchelle St. in Morganton. With the help of the fish tank bubbles, it helped to induce one into an alpha state to do this work...We did this for about 4 to 5 sessions. It was very effective and helpful. I noticed that after this, he did not go in that direction anymore with our therapy. At some point down the road from then, I wondered about it and asked him how come he decided to stop using those techniques in our sessions. He said that when the fish tank became no longer functional, he rethought whether he needed to use those techniques in our therapy anymore. I trusted him very much and it all seemed to work out well. I thought about that recently and laughed out loud! ..Love to all, Marge

[Margaret(Marge) Wetherell Maycoc]

Hi Anna, So good to hear from you and these are such valuable tools you have mentioned. Neing able to use something, anything, as a means to an end, and "recalculating." These are so valuable to know, especially now..I have had only once experience with a GPS and it was funny as it was difficult to manage..That is a metaphor in and of itself. Finally honing our "GPS"s and learning to adjust, this will be a great tool to remember and work with again...You could tell Bob anything and he'd always be right there with a different way of helpfully framing things...Thank you for these, Anna...Hope things are okay...Much Love, Marge

[Anna Hertzberg]

At some point we discovered the usefulness of "recalculating", as in GPS. Whenever reality would take a sudden turn in the opposite direction, we would say "recalculate", stop what we were doing (or thinking) and adjust the direction of our action to conform to the new situation. We found this tactic to be an excellent tool, especially when dealing with my parents, who often changed their minds or remembered things differently than we did.

[Anna Hertzberg]

Marge, it really is a good story about Him as he was truly plugged into whatever reality presented itself in the moment. He was reliable in never being surprised by anything human (except art, perhaps) and being able to use whatever came as a means to an end.

[Margaret(Marge) Wetherell Maycoc]

Thank you so much, Bhasa...He really made me laugh just when I thought the world might cave in. I know you must know what I mean. That thing with the fish tank came up for me the other day when I saw an aquarium.. I thought he jad stopped doing the hypnosis because I had made all this progress..It seemed ironic because I really had made progress and the fish tank rendered itself inoperable and then he said he didn't need it anymore and so on! It is all such a hoot really! He was...I am glad we can all still share and that this space is here for that. .I started with a new therapist last week. It is with a close friend of Bob's and I think it is going to be really great...Hope you guys are doing okay...I think of you...Much Love, Marge

[bhasa leona]

marge, laughing out loud is such a good way to remember him. i love hearing this story. don't hesitate to share. we are out here checking in. much love, bhasa