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From: Gretchen Hess, student, Sacramento, CA
Date: 21 Oct 2006
Time: 17:21:15 -0500
Remote Name: 24.2.51.54
Dr. Silverman, Thanks so much for your article, which, as several of your other postees have observed, is applicable to so much more of life beyond mere fluency problems. (In fact, in part your message reminds me of that of Al Gore in "An Inconvenient Truth"--how important it is not to just give up, but to see crisis as opportunity for change.) I plan to keep a copy of your article in my file for "Inspiration," and must admit that although not a PWS, I have much room to benefit from your advice on examining, analyzing and altering one's core beliefs in order to effect real change. Our beliefs do shape our reality, indeed--which affects how we look at everything. I remember when I first met my husband, and we were still in that process of exchanging personal information/histories, and how taken aback I was when he said "Wow! You've had a REALLY hard life!" "What?" I responded, aghast. "I've had a GREAT life!"--which showed both of us, instantly, I think, just how much one's perspective has to do with one's experience. Two people can have the same experience and one can see himself as a victim and the other as a victor, as you neatly demonstrate in your paper. Having had children, I recognize the truth in your depiction of the effects on a person of "believing she was experiencing something bad"; the core trick to giving birth quickly and relatively painlessly (absent any serious problem) seems to be to re-think one's conception of what one is experiencing, and think of contractions as good/welcome/helpful/beneficial, and just go with them, rather than thinking of labor "pains" that are somehow "bad" or undesirable. Your emphasis on the need to retain one's sense of humor is also especially valuable for anyone working on change of any kind. Kudos for having written an article with such wide-ranging applications for helping people in any perceived "unfortunate" circumstances. --Gretchen Hess