The Point of Therapy

In our lives, pain and suffering are messengers trying to get our attention. Many people who come to therapy feel they just want the pain and suffering to be gone. They say, “tell me what to do to get rid of this.” It isn’t that easy. If it were easy to just get rid of pain, many would have done it already. In therapy, the idea is to embrace the pain. Ask the pain, “what are you trying to tell me?” “What am I to learn from this?”

Moving through the pain, processing the suffering and finding the meaning of the pain brings consciousness. Shining a light on the parts we wish wouldn’t be seen is the way through the pain. Once through the pain and suffering, we are changed. We have been through an experience. We have made the unconscious, conscious.

The endeavor of therapy is not for the faint of heart. Therapy is sometimes an arduous task. It is advantageous though, going through the therapeutic process to get to the more secure place that can tolerate the fluctuations of things being difficult, and yes, things going well.