Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Why I don't want to be a therapist and issues over the growth process

I love therapy and talking about people's feelings, but I don't think I should be a therapist.

How are you supposed to know whats the right thing to say to someone?

For example:  Client 'I did this wrong, I can't do anything'. 

Therapist response options:
Therapist 1: How does that make you feel to say that?
Therapist 2: What kinds of feelings does that bring up for you?
Therapist 3: What would you tell your friend who said that?
Therapist 4: Nods in understanding of client's pain
Therapist 5: Holds clients pain and empathizes with them
Therapist 6: "normalizing" says- It is normal to do things wrong.  Everyone does.
Therapist 7: "shifting perspectives to more positivity"says- What else did you do, or have done, right?
Therapist 8: How can you learn from this mistake?
Therapist 9: Does this relate to something you have done in the past?
Therapist 10: Would you like to start feeling better? Have some compassion for yourself.

And the clients possible responses:
Client 1: Therapist just asks more questions, frustration.
Client 2: Yeah, I don't do everything wrong - feels better.
Client 3:  I do everything wrong and the whole world hates me --feels worse.
Client 4: feels understood by the Therapist - feels better.
Client 5: I feel angry at myself, I feel inadequate, I feel stupid, I feel like a loser.
Client 6: jeez, couldn't the Therapist say something comforting like, its okay, people make mistakes
Client 7: 'everyone makes mistakes', the Therapist doesn't realize how big my problems are
Client 8: I could learn to just stop trying - feels worse.
Client 9: My mom told me I do everything wrong, so did him, and her.
Client 10: Yes but I'm angry so I can't - feels trapped.

etc

And in another vein, I am also bothered by the idea of self help, where you pick up and discard helpful things along the way of your never ending personal growth process..  I used to go to Shambhala for a general discussion on whatever, which always turned out to be a general discussion on self-help tips, tools, practices, and wisdom. 

And the problem is that everybody is always searching for wisdom that will make things better.  But better just isn't feasible to me because its too ambiguous.  There's no limit to betterment, and you will always want to get better, even if you are at a better state than your current state.  There's no way to know that its helping 'enough' and there is no enough!  For example, since I went to that string of yoga classes, I'm better - I worked my body, and made myself go out, so something nice happened.  But how much better?  If I didn't go, I am not worse off, but to some degree I am not better-off, right?  And if I learn and try techniques for wisdom like getting in touch with yourself, helping others, exercise, positivity, do I ever get ahead of the game?  Or do I simply always straggle onwards, looking for the next thing to make things somewhat but not substantially better?

I just don't think I could handle doing therapy as a therapist.  I want to see someone all better, and as soon as possible.  I don't want to see them a little better, or worse!  People could go to therapy forever since there is always something wrong, and I don't want to see that.  I want to help them, but not just help a little.  I don't want to have conflict over accepting someone for who they are now, and simultaneously helping them to get to their goals, to a higher/better state.  Its just too ambiguous!  I don't understand or accept the fact that there is an ongoing process of maturing growth and development.  I am all over the place with this.  If on a given day, I have a bit of wisdom that helps me out, and then another day a different piece of wisdom that helps me in a different way, how can it all fit together?

For example: 'No pain, no gain' (work hard!), 'joyful effort'(if you are joyous doing something, it won't feel like effort!), meditate (cool your thoughts), love (let your heart expand!), don't isolate, be connected (be social), rejoice, plant seeds, help others (get the focus off yourself) and on and on and on.

I truly don't understand the point of self improvement sometimes, its just seems endless, and why be so bothered as to live with an endless task?  People are so wanting to feel better, but why follow and grasp at all these little tidbits that don't fully seem to help.

I guess I am learning from this post that I need to see things more long term, and accept that there will be multiple parts included in a whole process.  But, I want to simplify! A process, change over time, and all these parts just sounds complicated.  Be here, be now, Marissa, it may yet work out.

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