<![CDATA[Zen Psychology & Wellness

For many, picking up the phone, making an appointment, driving to an office, getting out of the car and walking in feels highly unsettling. There are a lot of thoughts about what could go wrong and people enter in starkly different positions ranging from, “Why do I need to do this?” to “What if this doesn’t work?”. When many people enter a therapist’s office for the first time, they feel like they would literally rather be doing almost anything else. As they glance at the clock they think, “At least I’ll be out of here in an hour…hopefully this goes quick”. These thoughts and feelings are real and exceedingly human. They need to be respected, acknowledged, and observed…not changed.
If showing up to an initial appointment feels like a risk or leap of faith than showing up and being there in and of itself is enough. The next risk is to make room (a millimeter or a mile) to contemplate trusting the process of therapy.
Contrary to the bad rep therapy gets, it isn’t about manipulation or forcing change upon another. If you don’t believe me, take a moment to consider the times that people have tried to force change upon you. How well has that gone? If it is not your process and your change, then the result is not your own and progress is often fleeting.
In short, true therapeutic change is personal, transformative, self-change. It’s the process of reflecting inward so that you can emerge with a recreated sense of deliberateness and intention. Or, as was said 5000 years ago:
“Curving back within myself I create again and again.”
– Bhagavad Gita
It is a myth that therapy needs to feel stigmatizing, awkward or ineffective. If that has been your experience, then it would make sense that starting therapy again would be even more challenging. It is a myth that taking a step inward means that you are “weak”, “admitting defeat”, or “broken”. If you feel or believe these things, simply reading the previous sentence won’t make them go way. That said, the therapy process may help you to make room for the possibility that there could be another explanation for these beliefs. The discovered understanding that taking a step inward to better understand your nature is a practice of courage and wisdom.
Put simply, therapy is the exploration and rediscovery of connection, with yourself and others. It is the trek inward. It is vulnerable. It is a risk. It is the bravest journey you can take.
- Daniel T. Volk, PhD