At some point in life’s journey, we begin to realize that our present stage is far more important to us, has far more value, and holds significantly more meaning for us than an earlier stage that we’ve been perseverating on for the last decade.
The very details we’re currently experiencing seem to reverberate depth of meaning. The situation itself both influences positively and reflects positively. In other words, influential people in our present situation are what we need to help us to become who we need and want to become ourselves. Our focus turns its gaze from past problems toward our future opportunities.
Authentic Analytic Therapy (AAT) moves my clients as slowly, gently, and methodically as possible in the direction of their most meaningful goals.
Your therapeutic journey will begin here, and you will need to bond with your therapist. This is the only way. Create a professional relationship with this person you are hoping will help you. You and you alone are the most important person in the consulting room, and yet the communication you use and the relationship you develop is crucial to overcoming your struggle, to your ability to heal, recover, or to feel better and move past that which is holding you back.
You & Your Psychologist
Your psychologist or therapist will listen intently in an effort to understand your personal experience. The patient experience, after all, is the primary part of the therapeutic journey, a journey of self-discovery and of rejuvenation.
The therapeutic experience is a type of ritual, a right of passage. Patients may struggle to understand the difficult lessons that life asks them to learn, but they are valuable lessons. Psychologists will typically support and validate your experience, encouraging you to embrace a psychological state of hope and optimism about your future.
Let me emphasize and highlight again the importance of your approach or strategy. A typical client, on any give day, is on a rejuvenating journey of self-discovery and development that will benefit immensely from the support and encouragement of their psychologist to once again, feel good about themselves and regain their self-confidence. We all want this.
Psychologists are, by nature, supportive people. A therapist will want to encourage your agency and celebrate the smallest changes you can make, as a way to help you experience momentum, ultimately facilitating your path forward.
Your therapist will be instrumental, helping you to search, explore, discover, and to even feel pleasantly surprised that you can generate new self-awareness and positive feelings that will assist you to be more effective and engaged with your interests, values, and day-to-day experiences.
We Create Our Narrative
We like to think that we know our own story. It may be more precise to say that you know one version of your story. As I have discovered for myself in the consulting room with numerous clients, stories are often full of negativity. Distorted beliefs and mind-reading describes far too many mental states, that then create a negatively directed downward spiral of experiences.
Those who seek counseling, will find themselves sitting with a professional who helps them come to know their own story, with an objective eye. Our stories hold great value and meaning for us.
I must admit, our counselors do not know precisely what we are feeling, nor what we will do to remedy our often conflicted situations. Yet they will hold open a door that allows us to experience a moment of realization that we have more influence on our experiences than we realize. As we come to accept that we can create the value and meaning of our past experiences and future ones, our real story suddenly emerges.