Understanding and reflecting is healing

Counselling and psychotherapy offers a deeper connection, enabling you to understand how issues and problems are affecting your emotions and impacting your choices. Reflecting on areas helps to clarify different layers of thinking and ways to approach various patterns differently and to begin a journey of change and moving forward. 

Reflecting how you react to situations and experiences through a process of talking with your therapist enables you to acknowledge patterns of behaviour and  altering negative thoughts and actions into positive reactions.

Understanding how you react to problems can be a great ‘lightbulb’ moment, or a painful reminder of what you put others through and with this, brings guilt, shame, and regret. However, therapists ensure you are provided with empathy without judgement and this enables you to see everything more clearly and begin to make changes to move forward with a greater self-belief of control and valuable skills to use. 

Issues like anxiety, low self-esteem, stress, relationships and depression can be debilitating and often, when you avoid facing them over a period of time, they manifest into bigger challenges like self-harming, body dysmorphia, addiction and severe mental health issues, just to name a few. 

To have a trusting, professional relationship to guide you through your experiences is pivotal to working in your best interest and listening to your narrative. A trained therapist will understand the challenges you have but it’s their job to ensure you understand, so you can make changes and find the inner peace to be a happier individual. 

Looking back at the past or reflecting on the present, mirrors a movie of your life and your thoughts can connect with your feelings offering a wave of clarity and an enhanced understanding will emerge. The process of reflection relieves negativity and offers a gift to becoming a better version of yourself and humbly see your own journey.  

To understand allows you to recognise the value of your beliefs and self-worth. It provides a new dynamic of awareness when using coping mechanisms and finding a healthier well-being. A therapist not only listens but truly walks beside you on your journey of discovery to understand and models ways forward to living mindfully and happy within one’s self. 

Reflecting is an image which some people may avoid, but this does not achieve anything and just continues the circle of anxiety and sadness. Feeling secure and having trust with a trained therapist is like a blanket of safety allowing you to be open and willing to look at a deeper level of self. Disclosing personal issues isn’t easy but hearing yourself say the honest words you have been ruminating in your head for a long time, delivers a deep sense of relief and understanding to moving forwards and living in the present. 

In order to recover and heal, talking, understanding and reflecting must take place and once that layer has been explored, other layers of your life may be open for discussion and healing. Therapists only take you where you want to go and stick with your story, it’s all about you and the session is yours to use as you wish. Use that precious time to reflect and understand, to gain a deeper perspective and find your inner happiness again.