Yesterday I stopped at the store on the way into my office for a bunch of bananas, my go to quick lunch these days is an Adams's all-natural, crunchy peanut butter sandwich with a cut up banana (for the record, I've never tried a grilled peanut butter and banana, rumored to be a favorite of Elvis Presley). When I got to work I set my bananas down and immediately became engrossed in completing the final stages of The Path Back, my online pornography addiction recovery program that is ALMOST READY TO LAUNCH! Whohoo! And from there my first client arrived and I was off!
A few hours into the day one of my clients made a joke about the "banana" in the room, which I took as a half-hearted attempt at humor in reference to my elephant in the room (see my previous post). I gave a courtesy laugh and we kept moving forward. About half way through my noon session I jump up to grab a book off my shelf to give to a client (The Illustrated Happiness Trap just in case you're interested, absolutely wonderful book that lays out nicely why we feel the need to compare ourselves to others, why we beat ourselves up and some strategies to knock it off!) and I find my bananas sitting on my bookshelf, right behind me and directly above my head! I felt like there was a lesson in there somewhere, but I loved the fact that I had 5 clients in my office up to that point and other than the attempt at humor, no one asked the question of why I had a bunch of bananas right behind my head on my bookshelf? I'm a huge fan of communication, at times it can be hard to be a bit comfortable with the uncomfortable, meaning when you feel like you want to say something, or point something out but it might feel a bit awkward, but I try and be the guy that says you have food on your face, or your fly is down (something my kids remind me of often!).
One more quick memory, when I was on a date in high school, I can't remember for the life of me who it was with, but I went to the restroom mid-date to blow my nose, something I still can't do in public, it's just not pretty! I came back to the table, and thankfully my date said, "I think you have a piece of pickle on your lip." I reached up and grabbed it, and that wasn't a piece of pickle, it was a booger! Thankfully we were eating at Carousel, a sandwich shop, and I believe my sandwich had 1,000 Island dressing so the "pickle" seemed like a reasonable thing to be on my lip. Thankfully she didn't just reach over, grab the "pickle" and pop it into her mouth, because I don't think at that time of my life that I WAS that guy who would have said something 
? So my challenge for the week is to be that person who points out the bananas in the room, or the pickle on your date's lip, but maybe this time, just for fun, you can make a move to eat the pickle, and see how uncomfortable they might get! Have a great day!
