Why therapy is not like google maps. It can actually help you learn where you are!
I recently moved cities and countries.
It’s been amazing, sad, exciting, disappointing, fun, ok, easy, difficult and all the things that life can throw at us.
I have found myself navigating my new city with google maps, which I’ve realised means that I don’t actually ever remember how to get anywhere.
Without learning for myself, my brain isn’t taking on board where I actually am and I give total responsibility to google. I notice I spend most of my time with my head in my phone rather than appreciating the beauty around me and taking in my new home.
The other night I decided to ditch the phone to make it from the station to the the restaurant I was headed to. I got a bit lost but found my way there. And I felt I actually learned the route. It made me think the parallels to how we learn in our personal lives.
When we feel lost and confused in our personal lives, we’re often looking for something to take us out of the situation and put us somewhere else. We’re often looking for someone to give us the solution to show us the way. Unfortunately there isn’t a google maps for that, but there are a lot of approaches that say if you follow this program, then this will happen and things will be fine.
Now, some of these may work for you and some may not.
It’s my experience that actually one persons best route to a destination, is rarely the same as someone else’s.
We each have to find out our own way that works for us. Some of this may involve similar roads but we all take few detours.
By discovering our own path, the next time we get lost, it is easier to find where we are and make our way out. We can also remember the way!
The way I work in therapy is a bit like that, I aim to help people to identify where they are. We then work together to discover how they can change direction in their lives, so that they can become more able to do this for themselves in the future. I don’t show you the way but am there along the way to help point you in the direction of your individual journey.
Soemtimes in life, we take a street that feels like the wrong way.
If we don’t like where we’re headed, we can always change direction.
We do it all the time when we’re lost.
It’s possible in our personal lives too.
If you’d like to learn more about me and my work you can contact me via my contact form
Take care,
Paul
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