Work With Me
About the work
The problems people bring to therapy are usually external symptoms of what is actually going on for them.
This work is primarily concerned with a journey which starts with the following fundamental question…
What is reality?
Most of us live as though the reality we experience is the same for everybody. If we encounter people who don’t think that same way that we do we think that they are a) stupid b) fucked up c) evil. Those people may be all of those things but the truth is that we all experience reality in different ways.
We gather information through our senses which is then interpreted by the way that our consciousness has organised itself around our past experiences. Through this we build a model of the world which becomes the way we experience reality as a whole.
There is lots going on outside of our conscious awareness that contributes to our conscious experience which for most people is a perceived as a narrative or story of who we are and what life is and our place within it. One of the most universal stories for life as a whole is that it is like a journey (from birth to death).
Our work here is to connect to your experience of that journey, not to deny it, but to find out where you really are.
We create mental maps
We are constantly creating mental maps of our experience along this journey. We use these maps to help us negotiate our mental landscape, to help us to get to where we want to go and to avoid the places that are dangerous.
These maps help us to make sense of the world and our place in it but…
The map is not the territory.
Maps are always out of date – because the world changes and they are based on the past.
Maps often contain errors.
Our maps may not be complete, there may be dark bits, unexplored corners, places that we don’t understand or believe that no one else could ever understand.
The places that we map as dangerous and to be avoided paradoxically become very important to our consciousness and this can lead to us placing a lot of (unconscious) attention there.
If your map tells you there is danger around, you make sure to pay attention to that danger so as to avoid going anywhere near it.
Our work here is to identify the internal maps of your experience, not to attempt to fit your experience into a pre defined structure (like many forms of therapy do).
Trauma
Sometimes people mentally visit places that are so different or intense that they find it hard to move past them. They are unmapped and can exist as somewhere disconnected to the journey which traps people there.
Our work here is to create space within these places to allow you to move on from them.
These maps define our experience of life and drive our thoughts, feelings and behaviour
The metaphorical wall you can’t break through may not be real but your consciousness has organised as though it is*. Which means that unless you can step into a whole new consciousness it may not be a great idea to ignore that wall completely.
That would be a denial of reality, not necessarily objective reality but your personal reality which as far as you’re concerned is as real as anything on this Earth.
Our work here is to explore your internal maps of reality and as we do so you may begin to perceive the landscape in different ways. Ways which allow you to discover steps you can take to move to a better place.
*thanks to Charles Faulkner via Andrew T Austin for this succinct explanation
Will you say yes to the adventure?
When many people experience mental distress they understandably try to get away from it. They hide or they hide it in an attempt to avoid discomfort and hope that this will solve their problems.
The truth is the complete opposite.
It is by exploring our discomfort that we find freedom from it. Whilst not easy, the journey of exploration doesn’t always feel bad. Just imagine every step, a step closer to freedom.
