Therapy is a journey we embark on together, using curiosity and collaboration to explore the challenges that bring you here. Often, when we’re struggling with difficult feelings or behaviors, there’s a natural tendency to be hard on ourselves. We may try to push through these experiences by criticizing or invalidating our own thoughts and emotions, hoping this will lead to change. Unfortunately, this approach often has the opposite effect, leaving us feeling worse and more stuck.
When faced with self-criticism, a powerful first step is to pause and become curious. Instead of thinking, “I’m doing it again—I’m a failure,” we can ask ourselves, “There I go, being critical of myself again. I wonder why I’m doing that?” This shift from judgment to curiosity opens up space for us to understand what’s really happening beneath the surface. As you practice noticing this habit and approach yourself with more compassion, you’ll begin to make room for accepting the very feelings you’ve been trying so hard to change.
With time and patience, this practice can naturally lead to feeling better and more connected to yourself. You’ll start to respond to your own struggles with openness and understanding, creating a foundation for real and lasting change.
In our sessions, there will be times when we temporarily shift our focus from the problems that initially brought you to therapy to what’s happening in the present moment—often referred to as the here-and-now. You might even wonder, “How does this help me with my relationship with so-and-so?” This temporary shift from the past or future to the present offers a window into your patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior, revealing how they either support or hinder you in your daily life.
By observing these patterns as they unfold in real time, you gain valuable insight, practice mindful attention, and develop mastery over these internal processes. This awareness not only helps you better understand yourself, but also opens up opportunities to discover new ways of relating to both yourself and others, creating meaningful changes that extend beyond the therapy room into your everyday life.
Our work together will involve cultivating this practice of curiosity and compassion, exploring not only the difficulties in your life but also how these challenges show up in the therapy room. By doing so, we’ll uncover patterns, create new meanings, and develop a greater sense of agency and choice in how you live your life.
If you’re ready to embark on this journey, I invite you to reach out. Together, we can explore the patterns that hold you back, cultivate a deeper understanding of your emotional world, and develop new ways of being that feel more authentic and fulfilling. I look forward to the opportunity to support you in this transformative process.
True change often requires a combination of emotional experience and deeper understanding. Emotional catharsis alone, while sometimes relieving, can be difficult to translate into daily life. On the other hand, simply understanding why we do something doesn’t always lead to change. How many times have we heard ourselves say, “I know what I’m supposed to do, but I just can’t seem to do it”?
By integrating both emotional experience and cognitive insight, we create a more comprehensive path for change. This approach allows us to move beyond the surface level of our challenges and connect with our deeper selves, where meaningful and lasting transformation occurs.