Due to the annual rummage sale at the Community House the May 14 meeting was held at the Takiff Center in Glencoe with 33 members and no guests in attendance. We welcomed snowbird Mike Wurzburg back to the north.
The club was reminded of the Annual Benefit on this coming Saturday, May 16 where we would all be well feed and well entertained. There would also be numerous great items to bid on in both the silent and live auctions. John Thomas announced that over 70 people had registered. John also thanked Marie Kuipers, Rich Lalley, Keith Reed, Mike Malloy and Tim McCabe for their contributions to the event.
Mark Kotz announced that Sean Nelson would be speaking about RYLA next week and the following week Debi Genthe would inform the Club about the Meals at Home program.
This week we celebrated the birthdays of John Ford, Chuck Norton, Patti Van Cleave and Mike Wurzburg as well as the Rotary anniversaries of Bernie Michna (2nd ) and Mike Malloy (1st).
Happy Buck$ were from Rich Lalley who participate in Libertyville Club’s 5K run and 3K walk; Ned Meisner for the fact that Dr. Mardirossian was speaking and he might identify some of his own issues; and Mike Shelton for the Cub’s Monday night extra-inning victory.
This week’s speaker was our own Dr. Robert Mardirossian, the Executive Director of Family Service of Winnetka-Northfield. Robert has been the head of Family Services for over 20 years. Family Service provides counseling and therapy for both large and small issues that prevent a person from living full lives. It can help to rewire some faulty connections.
Robert spoke about the unconscious feelings and how they may come to the fore. Dealing with the unconscious has gained great credibility in psychotherapy. One example that Robert presented was that of an eight year-old anticipating a fireworks display on the 4th of July and just as it was about to start he was bitten by a dog. Years later, when fireworks are about to go off he gets anxious but doesn’t associate the anxiety with the earlier incident of the dog bite. The two events are linked neurologically but remain in the subconscious. Many times when you wonder why you are doing something but cannot understand why, it is your sub consciousness that is directing your actions or feelings.
Robert even asked the eternal question ‘why do Cubs fans continue to support the team when there has been so little evidence of success in one’s entire lifetime?’ We all interpret our experiences differently. What we get out of a book and how our parents’ expectations influence us are just two examples.
Most of us believe that ‘seeing is believing; but really believing is seeing as we generally see what we believe, what fits our perceptions. Much eyewitness testimony in court is incorrect, yet juries tend to believe so called eyewitnesses.
In a response to a question from Keith Reed, what is the determining factor - nature or nurture? Robert answered it is the interaction between nature and nurture. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks unless the dog wants to learn. This reminded him of a story that he ended his presentation with. How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb? - Only one, but the light bulb has to want to be changed.
