31/12/2023
NYE…. You know I’ll always post something a bit more raw. Less “make this your year ” 🙄
It’s a Sunday, I’ve had quite a few clients want to book in ‘urgent’ phone sessions today.
Oh the immense pressure it’s put on many to ‘feel’ positive today
As a therapist, my work with clients is about the expansion of possibilities.
* I want the conflictual couple to fight less. But I also want them to explore new possibilities for connection.
* I want the survivor of sexual trauma to experience fewer symptoms of PTSD. But I also want them to feel present to pleasure.
Stopping pain is necessary, but not sufficient.
Brave one, your journey out of trauma gets to include BOTH shedding AND reclaiming:
•Shedding shame AND reclaiming self-compassion
•Shedding isolation AND reclaiming connection
•Shedding pain AND reclaiming pleasure
•Sheddibg fear AND reclaiming love
In the beginning, we are in a triage situation.
In the beginning we address the pain.
We stem the tide.
But therapy, like a journey, unfolds, and we need to stay open to possibilities that were unseeable during the crisis, possibilities that were unimaginable during the storm.
Stopping the pain is the floor. But we need a high high ceiling.
Healing is certainly about symptom-relief.
But it’s about so much more. I worry that in our efforts to stop the suffering, we might get a bit neglectful. As your hurt begins to decrease, what happens is that internal space is created inside of you, space where that pain once lived? You get to be intentional about how you fill that space.
You get to fill that space with a felt sense of safety, of sovereignty, of presence, of wholeness. You get to be embodied. And you get to invite another person to be present with you as you are present in your body. Someone who has earned the right to your nearness. Someone who is respectful of, and compassion with, your healing journey. An intimate ally.
You have always deserved nothing less than your wholeness
Stopping pain is necessary, but not sufficient.
Brilliant caption assisted by Dr A.S
