bridges to healing you never considered
Small incremental changes over time. This is the way to new behavior
Karen Van acker LPC
Humans can make changes. It is not set in stone to be the way you are now. We are raised to believe certain things about ourselves, our environment and our world view. Those old beliefs may not work for you has you progress and grow. We can find our self at odds with our childhood beliefs. For instance when we go to school. we learn that mommy and daddy may have told us something that does not line up with what our teacher says. We may have a belief about work that does not line up with what our first employer believes, and my favorite of all time game changer is falling in love with another person. Boy does that one challenge your beliefs.
Each of us grows up under a certain set of circumstances that evolve around what we came in to this world with ( physical attributes) and our implicit training from our environment ( parenting, and such). We adapt a world view based upon those particular sets of circumstances which are out of our control. As we grow up and figure out that we can influence our world we begin to understand that things my not be just as they have been taught to us.
The bigger picture of the world is maintained by the person experiencing it. Everyone has their own individual set of beliefs and behaviors that are developed to deal with their particular set of beliefs. Whew! complicated.
What a challenge it is to have any different type of beliefs from those that we grew up with. often people will continue to live under the beliefs and world view they grew up with because it is too much of a challenge to step out of them. For others of us , deep changes in our world that come in conflict with what we believe cause us to develop a different world view. Therefore it is important to understand a different way to think about life.
Life is just that, life. It comes with things you want and things you do not want. None if it is essentially bad. Every circumstance is given its value by the person experiencing it. Letting go of the value system you grew up with can be very freeing and scary all at the same time.
It is important that as you go through changes in the way you see things, you have someone that can guide you with those small incremental changes so that you don't go completely mad. When you make big changes that are in direct conflict with what you learned as a child there can be implications to your life. Making big steps can cause a lot of anxiety. Counselors are trained to support people through these changes so that they are not too traumatizing.
A pillow is just a pillow. It is neither good or bad, it is just a pillow. Everything we encounter can be seen as a tool to better understand ourselves. Even the most distressing events cause us to take a better look at how we are behaving and what we are allowing into our existence. If your world is looking rather bleak, take a look at how what you are experiencing is trying to get your attention for change.
Is your pillow just a pillow? or is it something you need to take a closer look at. Can you see what small changes you need to make to work around that pillow?
Counseling can bridge the gap.
Karen Van Acker LPC LLC
Counseling in Salem Oregon
