Sometimes, we come to counselling because of a crisis in our lives. It can be that the cause is clear - a bereavement, a relationship breakdown, or some other loss may have turned our lives upside down. Or perhaps we can no longer tolerate our anxiety, our depression, or our addictions. Or maybe we realise that we are unable to cope with events so clearly outside of our control, such as climate change, the Covid pandemic, or the social and economic upheaval and inequality in the world today.
At other times, it is our successes that bring our pain to the surface. This was true for me, the first time I considered counselling. I was a youth worker at the time, and had just completed a project that I knew had had a positive impact on a large number of young people. I had a lovely home, a good circle of friends, and a fun social life. From the outside, I appeared happy.
Yet I wasn’t - quite the opposite in fact. I knew that, beneath the surface, I was in a huge amount of emotional pain. I knew that I couldn’t continue to live the way that I was living. I knew that, deep down, something had to give. I just didn’t know what it was.
We may not be able to fully express, or explain, what is happening to us, but whatever the reason, it is as if there is something or someone in the shadows of our lives, urgently calling to us, demanding that we take notice, pay attention, and make a change. And even though we do not know who or what is calling to us, and even though we may not want to, there is another part of us, deep inside, that longs for us to respond.
It takes great courage to take that step into the unknown, and to answer the Call of the Soul.
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