- They felt stuck
- They were willing to grow
- They were in the midst of, recovering from, or facing a big transition
I have found that most of my clients have spent a lot of time analyzing and talking about their stuck issue with friends and family before entering my office. This means that they have used their analytical, logical brain to try to work out their issue. While our logical brain can be quite helpful in many arenas, logic often does not help when someone is stuck. To give a few examples, I have seen clients who are anxious trying to talk themselves out of their fears, but being unable to do it. I have seen clients who want to lose weight trying to follow a logical diet, but being unable to follow through with it. I have seen clients who are angry at their partners trying to talk themselves into feeling grateful, but feeling angry nonetheless. I have seen clients who are suffering from depression trying to talk themselves into feeling happy. These clients can give me logical reasons why they should not be stuck but their logic has not been successful at digging them out.
As a therapist and as a human being I believe that we are all wise. I do not believe, however, that our wisdom always resides in our logical brain. In fact, I think sometimes our logical brain can talk us out of our wisdom. We can talk ourselves into things and out of things by making a pro list and a con list and battling on and on. Sometimes we are so preoccupied by our analytical gymnastics and we never once close our eyes and feel the true answer. I believe that our true wisdom is often held much more deeply inside of ourselves than our surface analytical brain can reach. I believe that our bodies feel our truth and that if we tap into our bodies we will always find the answer.
In my counseling sessions I work with my clients to help them learn how to tap into this deeper level of connection with themselves in order to find their answer. In effect, they find the key that unlocks them from that stuck place so they can experience flow and freedom in their lives.