March 6, 2025
Trash or Treasure

I am competing in the Toastmasters’ International Contest to become the World Champion of Public Speaking. To date, I won the club contest, but there are many levels to win for the honor of standing on the final stage that will be held in Philadelphia this August, 2025.
I decided to create a talk called, “Trash or Treasure.” I flashed back to the time when I was a 10-year-old boy living on the south side of Chicago. Whenever I heard “Yooo!” I’d rush to the alleyway and watch a big, blue truck rumble past 50-gallon metal drums filled with trash. Two men walking at the back of the truck would yell, “Yooo” to signal the driver to stop. They’d then turn a metal drum upside down onto a conveyor belt. Garbage would tumble into the belly of the beast.
My eyes always veered to the recovered treasures on the side of the truck – a broken bike that could be repaired, a steering wheel that could be used for a go-cart, and roller skates that seemed to be my size. With dreams of reclaiming tossed treasure, I knew I was destined to be a garbologist!
When I became a therapist 40-plus years ago and began counseling clients, I realized I had become, in some ways, a garbologist. My job was to look for trash talk, the stinking thinking that represents our negative self-talk that brings us down in the dumps.
We all have our favorite forms of stinking thinking: “I’m not good enough. I’m not worthy. I’ll fail at this. I’m not loved. I can’t trust others.”
To clear out our trash, we can act like garbologists and say, “Yo! Stop! Pay attention to what I’m thinking.” When we stop and look at our negative self-talk, we can actually find buried treasure. Under every trash talk, there’s a need that longs to be recognized and satisfied. A need to be seen and heard, accepted and supported, cared about and loved. The needs that were buried as children must be unearthed and met for us to shift to positive self-talk like “I am good enough, worthy, and loved.”
Growing up, I did what most boys and men did on the Southside of Chicago. I kept any emotional pain to myself. No talking, no crying, no sign of a whimper. Since I did not talk about my feelings, I have a longing to express myself. That’s why I write and speak to audiences.
If you ever find your mind overflowing with trash talk, say, “Yo!” and become a garbologist. Stop and pay attention to what you’re thinking. If it’s stinky, ask yourself these questions: “What unmet needs do I have? How can I satisfy them now? Is there one thing I can do to shift my thinking?”
Look for the treasures. They’re waiting to be found! “Yooo!”