James Wogan LCSW

Tag: CBT

  • Crabs in Bucket, reinterpreted

    Crabs in a bucket: Marvin (Diné / Navajo) reflected on “Crabs in a Bucket.” An elder in Seattle shared commonly told admonishment that crabs pull each other down, if one tries to climb out of a pot or bucket, other crabs pull it back down. The lesson, be cautious of who is around you.

    In nature, however, Crabs actually cooperate, climb on each other, help each other, live in community in order to survive. Their nature is cooperation. The bucket, the elder said, is a Western construct. The bucket is Western society, materialism, individuality. When pulled away from their natural environment, of course crabs behave differently.

    A beautiful Native-American re-interpretation of a story commonly told to children; don’t trust or be pulled down by those around you.  This stands is stark contrast to Crabs’ true nature, to lift each other up.  

    Adam Grant (Wharton) added, “We assume this is how crabs behave in a bucket bc this is what we’ve been told. Researchers showed, however, they don’t actually pull each other down. ….Test the hypothesis.” 

    Native wisdom.

  • Rain perspectives

    “Jamés, is there any chance you can take tomorrow off? Do you want to go mountain bike riding in the rain 🌧️ ☔️ ?? It’s really beautiful, and there’s place in Marin where it’s not muddy and we can have a beautiful ride. China Camp in Marin.”

    This was my friend Sasan🇮🇷 on phone Wednesday morning. Been storms in the bay area and there’s a lot of hype (and some true loss ie floods in Santa Rosa). Sasan’s call showed me that people can see the world totally differently, different perspective different sense of joy and excitement…

    99% of the conversation and news about rain is negative, new weather vocabulary like “bomb cyclone” or “ atmospheric river” has people all anxsty.

    Meanwhile Sasan (and a few others) looooove storms 🌧️ ☔️. “What better way to connect w Nature?”

    Likewise, one of my clients in therapy said, “Oh the rain is such a good time to go fishing 🎣!” A lot of people are taking day off work bc they want to be out in the rain catching fish; freshwater is stirred up by the rain, the fish go nuts.”

    

  • See. Be. Do.

    Western psychology often focuses on behavior (doing). In contrast, Eastern and Native approaches emphasize seeing, and being, before doing. Many cultures place high value on being (and learning to be) in community w each other vs. individual orientation.

    In therapy, people from diverse backgrounds find that incorporating perspectives of different cultures (anthropological / ecological context) helps to free up different ways to reflect and see self, and w self determination consider how to be with others. This helps to prepare people to make healthy changes in behavior and thought. Photo is image of #GuanYin, “relaxed composure.”

    Guan Yin “relaxed composure”

    See it.

    🌘

    Feel it

    🌓

    Be it