Learning to Feel Good

Feeling good isn’t quite what it seems.

Hello. My name is Chris Jamison. I may be familiar to those of you who have called into the Human Potential Center offices, more than likely to share something with Bob, but got a different voice on the phone than Bob’s pleasant and outgoing tone.

You would have heard me answer the phone because I am helping out with the center on a nearly-daily basis, mostly with office and Human Potential Center related tasks. So far my volunteering has been a relaxing, yet involved due to the ever-shifting demands of helping Bob with the non-profit. I seem to always go into the office, expecting to do one set of tasks, but am needed to abandon them and go in another direction just because the responsibilities of the day require that. If ‘variety is the spice of life’ as a wise person once said, my life is very well seasoned indeed.

While I am new to the Center, I have been dealing with issues relating to emotional therapy and growth since experiencing the death of my mother nearly 14 years ago.

At that time I was in college and trying to be an average, impulsive, carefree, fun-seeking twenty-one year old, but I would tend to sabotage my wishes for happiness by having friendships which weren’t mutually satisfying, being dependent on manipulating my circumstances to avoid painful reactions or over-reactions to people I felt threatened by, and the general insecurity that comes from being an adolescent and not knowing exactly how to accept myself and my flaws and dignity and ensure that I am respected and affirmed by those close to me without appearing rigid or clingy.

When my mother died, I had no idea how to process or describe what I was feeling.