I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but not too long after I began my private practice, I began to notice, and become frustrated by how difficult it appeared to be for my clients to learn from their experiences in therapy. We would deal with the presenting issues, formulate a game plan, and eventually solve the problem.  Six months later, they would call for some help with different circumstances, but basically the same problem.

I began to realize, that I was failing to give them something they could use to solve whatever problem presented. The real problem lay in their thinking. We are all creatures of habit, and thought patterns become habitual. Negative beliefs influence all patterns of thought, and I realized they seemed to be attracting the same types of problems over and over again. If they could find some way of channeling their thought patterns in a more positive direction, perhaps their life experience, as a whole, would improve.

When I suggested this to several of my clients, one responded with the comment “I’ll believe that when I see it!”  As time progressed, I came to understand that the polar opposite is the true reality: “I’ll see that when I believe it!”

More to follow.

Gene M.

(10/1/12)