August 2022

Mention shoulder, neck and lower-back pain, frozen shoulder, herniated discs or tendinitis, and anyone who sits at a desk all day has a tale of woe to tell. Some companies have offered ergonomics talks, and we now understand how poor posture and intense, repetitive or long-held fixed positions relate to common musculoskeletal problems. We’ve learned about and tried adjusting our workstations, getting up regularly instead of sitting for hours, and walking for exercise – yet nothing improves. The pain is still there, and so are the forward head posture and the “dowager’s hump”, not to mention hunched backs and scoliosis…

In our fast-paced lives we face countless challenges and inevitably run into setbacks. The negative emotions they bring can stifle our ability to think, even lead us to act irrationally, and when they build up over time they can harm our physical health. Clearly, we should free ourselves from negative emotions as soon as we can. Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) is a good way to release them. Originating in Seattle in the 1950s, RC is also called co-counseling: two people take turns, for equal amounts of time, being the listener and the one who talks. While talking, negative emotions are naturally discharged through crying, laughing, shaking and so on. Discharging emotion is our innate human mechanism for psychological recovery at work. With the company and attention of a listening partner, we can restart this recovery mechanism and reclaim our fine human nature and great intelligence.