Therapy training programs and their teachers are merely the whetstones on which the novice therapists hone their instruments. Those instruments are the selves of the therapists. NED GAYLIN Family, Self And Psychotherapy: A Person-Centred Perspective
Some sharp-eyed readers may have spotted a plethora of counselling and psychotherapy books in my 'WHAT I'M READING' widget lately. The reason is: I've just begun an Introduction To Counselling Skills course. According to the book Counselling Skills In Context (edited by Sally Aldridge and Sally Rigby), there are three major aspects to a Counselling Skills programme: learning the skills, understanding the theory and cultivating self-awareness. It's the last one which particularly intrigues me. It's this aspect which clearly differentiates counselling/psychotherapy courses from courses on most other subjects.
How can we claim to even begin to understand the minds of others if we have no insight into our own minds? It struck me today, as I was wondering what direction my blog might take in the future, that I could harness my blog to this pursuit of self-knowledge. Perhaps, through thoughtful, self-exploratory blogging, I might arrive at a deeper level of self-awareness. It's only by writing down your thoughts and feelings as clearly and honestly as you can, by examining them and expressing them in words, that you can really get to grips with what you are thinking and feeling, and why you are thinking and feeling it. That's what I believe, at any rate. It seems to work for me. And, actually, it's been one of my motivations for blogging from the very start.
I'm not quite sure yet what format this will take — it may be fluid and experimental — but I view it as a challenge: a valuable and enriching one, even though it may be painful at times.
... it is his own hurt that gives the measure of his power to heal. CARL GUSTAV JUNG The Practice Of Psychotherapy
