We gathered together (Karaj, Kuldip, Sunil and me) for an early-morning supervision session. Kuldip went first and received his usual reprimand for a shoddy appraisal of yesterday’s events. He had initially set out goals for his day but did not assess whether or how those goals had been met. He is unable to evaluate his own day or his own life.
In the evening I spoke to Sunil about his patients from Saturday. Karaj had asked him to concentrate on the people he’d had contact with in order to establish who had sucked all his energy away such that he was withdrawn and injured himself on Sunday. I listened to what he said and felt tuned in and in control. Instead of listening and waiting to be told the answer I came from a place of knowing – knowing that I have all the answers, that I have the ability – and because of this I was able to contribute more to the conversation. For example after Sunil had gone through the list and told me which one he thought it was, I asked him why it couldn’t have been the last patient he saw. His answer was, ‘it could have been her’. I had made a contribution.