Synchronicity in Unexpected Places

As a psychotherapist, I am in the very fortunate position of being present to people in some of their most transitional times. The stress of moving, or leaving a job, or the end of a relationship, or birth of a baby, as we all know, can cause a lot of stress and confusion. These are the times people often seek the support of a caring and compassionate therapist. I fully expect to be let into some of the most intimate details of their lives, making me a de facto family member in some cases. I love this part of my job, because I get to meet people at the heart-level, a place that can be hard to access in my regular day-to-day life. For me, connecting in this very authentic and emotional way is as important to my well-being as physical exercise -- a necessary requirement to the strength of my constitutional being.

Today, I experienced this same level of intimate witnessing and heart-centered, authentic connection in a very unexpected place - my job. What is even more surprising to me is that this job is not in the field in which I have trained for the past eight years. Three months ago, I took a position in marketing at Red Oak Realty. This job was supposed to simply be the paycheck that enabled me to continue my work as an MFT intern -- just show up, do the work, collect the pay and then get to my real vocation. What I did not know when I accepted this position was the family that I had just been invited to join.

I don't usually equate coworkers with family, but Red Oak is a very different kind of company than I am acquainted with. I think we all know companies who talk the talk but don't walk the walk when it comes to caring about their employees. At Red Oak (I swear I'm not doing PR for them), every person is seen as a human being, someone who deserves respect, support, praise and fair compensation for the hard work they do. There are no political dramas, power plays, back-stabbing, hierarchical games or Machiavellian schemes, none that I can see anyway. This is, honestly, a great place to work, especially for a person with my disposition.

Today was Red Oak's annual Kick-Off Breakfast, a company-wide event with the purpose of reviewing the previous year, setting goals for the coming year, announcing new programs and recognizing individual and team successes. As I sat listening to two of our founding members (34 years in the same four-member partnership) announce their retirement, I felt, in myself and in most of my colleagues, a profound sense of love for the members of this family -- my family! I realized that I was bearing witness to a massive transition point in this company's history. They have ambitious, yet socially responsible, goals for growth and progress. The two new owners, who are hands-on employees as well, are investing time, energy and capital into the tools needed for us to achieve those goals. More remarkably, the four original and two new owners, a combination that in other companies might cause tension, fundamental arguments, splintering and derision, are cooperatively and thoughtfully shepherding this organization into an exciting new era of operation. This passing of the torch hints at the wisdom of the founders in their ability to let go, say goodbye, move forward into unfamiliar territory, and yet maintain the authentic and caring relationships that not only built, but have sustained, this agency for 34 years.

It does not escape me that some divine intervention, some delicious universal synchronicity, has brought me into this family, at this particular moment in time, to witness and feed this transition. My role here is certainly not that of a therapist, although I do a fair amount of supportive listening there. However, my title or job responsibilities are secondary to my sense of belonging in this wonderful collection of beings who show me what it means to walk the walk, every day, in every little imaginable way.

In a world which is increasingly dominated by greedy, behemoth conglomerations with the stock price as the ultimate indicator of success and the individual employee an unfortunate requirement, Red Oak has maintained it's deep core value of helping people (in notably more ways than selling houses). I will be forever grateful to higher power that I was welcomed into this family at such a transitional time in it's existence.