Holding Boundaries Around What We Do
Last week I shared about a situation with someone who wanted insight around physical symptoms they experienced. The angle I approached the topic from was that of what people believe about the work we do.
This week, I'm approaching it from the angle of boundaries.
Here's what I shared last week:
Someone I know personally greeted me with a hug and then launched into a description of physical symptoms they'd recently been experiencing. When they finished, they waited. Imagine they had question marks in their eyes.
Here's what a subscriber shared in response to what I shared last week:
I was in the grocery store and a former patient walked up to me and said, “Can you take my pulses and tell me what’s going on?” I was taken aback and did so. Then I became somewhat angry at myself for lowering my boundaries. I then told them they would need to make an appointment for future questions. I didn’t hear from them for years…then they called for acupuncture treatment.
The sort of work we do as healers - whether through energy, intuition, pulses, Tarot or whatever our method may be - causes some people to perceive us as vending machines, in a way; readily found and generally with a low barrier to service.
Without meaning to, it can be that our services are taken for granted and therefore seen as available anytime, anywhere. The fact that we’re professionals and therefore attach a fair energy exchange (fee) to our services is either forgotten or intentionally overlooked. (I prefer to believe it’s forgotten.)
That puts is in the position of needing to carefully mind our boundaries.
It’s something that is sometimes easier said than done - such as in the two examples offered above. In both instances, we were taken by surprise and ended up offering our services free of boundaries and charge. On top of that, we’re here to help people and want to help people. It’s what we do.
Even so…
Ideally, each of us could have acknowledged the requests and then offered up the information for them to book with us appropriately, using the guidelines of our booking calendars, our scheduling software and our policies.
And that brings us to the bigger and stickier piece in this: When we offer our services outside the boundaries of our policies and terms of service, we’re without the protections of those policies and terms of service.
I’m not being punitive here by saying we need to take great care when we’re out in the wild and we’re asked for our services on-the-spot.
Honoring that our personal boundaries are valid and vital and that our services pay our bills is important and enough. However, we also need to take into account that our policies and terms of service protect us and our clients.
So, with all that said, how can we hold our boundaries both for our own sake and for the sake of those we serve? Perhaps by remembering that it is very much for us and for them.
Personally Speaking
Yesterday was the eclipse and what a show it was. I sat out on the deck supported by a sunhat, eclipse glasses and sunscreen, accompanied by my mom and one of our neighbors. It truly was a spectacle to see the moon slide in front of the sun and all but obscure it from view.
We were in approximately the 97th percentile; not totality. So while it didn’t get dusky-dark, the quality of light became very eerie-looking; foggy without the fog, in a way. It was very odd and very cool - complete with a temperature drop that startled the three of us.
The packet of eclipse glasses I purchased came with a cell phone filter that I attempted to use without success, so there’s no amazing picture to share. Ah, well. I have plenty of mind pictures to review.
Yours in peace and gratitude,
