I feel great appreciation for the time I spend with clients. I am honored to be sitting down with them, hearing them share their dilemmas and ideas, working with me on becoming unstuck, and discovering a more hopeful way forward. It is amazing how a 1-hour therapy session can be experienced as a timeless catalyst for change, in which can lead to new meaning and direction. Not always the case for everyone (unfortunately), and it can require a lot of hard work and patience for others. But there is plenty of research out there showing that the simple decision and act to see a helping professional can be the significant point in time to change the course of events. This same research shows how change in your situation can sometimes occur even before you see the professional, and that change often occurs early on in treatment.
We live in busy and stressful times, which is considered “normal” Western living. We face endless demands and competing priorities on our time. It is inevitable that at times we become stuck in automatic, reactive, repetitive, and problematic patterns of living, loving, and working. In systems theory, groups of people living and working together can get stuck in unhelpful feedback loops, in which problems are unintentionally fueled and maintained by everyone’s actions combined. When we attempt to change unhelpful situations, we tend to find the quickest, simplest and familiar solution in order to keep life going without interruption. This can often work in managing the everyday problems of life. But when problems become bigger and stay around longer, these “inside the box” solutions no longer work, and may become part of the problem. When a conscious decision is made to make an appointment to see someone outside the family, there is a pause from the busyness, and an opportunity arises to think “outside the box” and regain hope. Sometimes the solutions that come from therapy return us to the fundamentals of living and loving, like re-connecting with oneself and loved ones, listening more carefully and understanding more deeply, and becoming more flexible and creative with solutions. It is often the small but thoughtful actions we make that ripple into bigger more positive directions.
If any of this resonates with you, please share!
I wish you well in the good times and hard times.
Mark
(Picture courtesy of Huffington Post)
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