The Growing Edge: Fill & Download for Free

Most of the growing number of modern day flat-earthers will avoid this question by asserting that there is no edge to fall off of. There are several competing "theories".My top three favorites (in no particular order) are:#1: The biblical version which is an enclosed Earth with a firmament. Waters above and waters below, the Earth is under a dome and surrounded by water. Passages in Genesis can be interpreted this way. Many ancient cultures had some variation of this idea.#2: Antarctica surrounds the flat Earth with an ice wall 200 feet high which "holds the oceans in". The North pole is in the center of the disk, the continents surround it like the U.N. flag and there is no South Pole. Supporters maintain that the military will not let anyone into the vast wasteland of Antarctica so the extent of it is a mystery.#3: Infinite worlds on an infinite plane. What we call Antarctica is really the shore of our "Pond Earth" and there are adjacent worlds with alien races yet to be discovered. If I were a flat-earther this would be my favorite theory.We cannot fall of the edge because there is no edge!Now, I cannot end this answer without a return to reality:Here is a snapshot of our planet from this week, taken by DSCOVR::EPIC::Earth Polychromatic Camera.The Earth is a big beautiful globe!

“I’m not assertive and I just go along.” Sounds like a growing edge for you, if you want to go in that direction. Since it’s scary, you might start by asking your therapist to help you with assertiveness, maybe even practicing it in session.By the way, it is unprofessional and just plain wrong for a therapist to say you’re going to visit a particular item next week, and then forget about it. We have no excuse for that, especially since we take notes.I’d always put a special star symbol beside anything we agreed to come back to later, so it would stand out when I looked at my notes from the previous session. Normally I didn’t need the reminder, but it would be very bad form and disrespectful for me to forget, so I had that special star there just in case.

I love this question because the person asking it wants to learn and grow and be a better therapist, so I’m delighted to offer my two cents.The one thing I always said when training clergy, or counselors, or any helping professional was:DON’T ASK ANY QUESTIONS FOR AT LEAST A YEARQuestion marks are shaped like a hook for a reason. They say “Don’t talk about what you want to talk about, talk about what I want to hear.”Yes, I know a medical doctor needs to get a good history quickly, and is trained to do that , but a even a physician can often be more effective by reducing the number of questions to increasing the number of leading statements. My doctor rarely asks a question, but his prompts get me to spill my guts in the first five minutes. He’d be a good therapist.You know the best way help that human across from you, likely someone in pain, isn’t to make them give you information you desire? Consider that you will learn much more about the person when he/she trusts you to listen with empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard?The only thing worse than a therapist asking a lot of questions is a therapist giving gratuitous, generic advice with a lot of “shoulds” in it.JUST STOP THE QUESTIONS AND START MAKING EMPATHIC STATEMENTSThat includes the first session, when you have the intake form they’ve completed in your hand. Try things like “I notice you completed every item very carefully” or “I see you skipped the family section.” Create openings with your observations, openings that the client can take in various directions. Later, lead more “I’m a little confused about the job thing. . .” “I see you only had two sessions with your last therapist. . .” I promise that if you avoid questions for your first year in the job, and learn to make statements instead, you’ll be amazed how much information you get, and giving the information will be therapeutic for the client right away too.BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELFI don’t think for a moment that you lack empathy, which is indispensable for a counselor. You only lack skill. Of course! You are an intern. I see you are aware of your growing edge, that you reach out for guidance. You’ve chosen an amazing, awesome profession. Learn everything you can from the people around you during your training. It’s their job to help you grow and develop, and they probably love doing it too.