I was touched when a client recently shared that they felt our sessions together were like reading a good book. On exploration it was not any great aha moments or particular chapters, but more the quality of the relationship where they feel heard and responded to, where there is hope and where they feel they are at least trying to work towards a happy ending. At the same time, they acknowledged that whilst they desperately want me to have the answer they know that’s not possible and that in essence they have to find their own way to write the ending for this book. Hard when you have no experience or confidence in writing the chapters you most yearn for.
Being with the gap and the not knowing is where I find many of my clients need the most holding and support. It is scary to be with the unknown and to reflect and delve into understanding more of ourselves, even if we want to in order to create different experience and relationships in our lives. Hence the value of having a companion on that journey who can be alongside to witness our exploration, reassure us we are OK and our experience is normal, and to bring a different perspective, context or explanation. In time we do reach the end of the book and find our way, even if as we reach a new stage in life we realise it was only the first in a trilogy.
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