"Ouch"

I have been in private practice for two years now and working in the clinical field for over 12 years. One main trend I see regularly is that shame, guilt, disappointment and embarrassment are emotions that the majority of people are not equipped to deal with. Myself included.

When I see clients that are dealing with the above emotions, it usually seems appropriate to begin the process of self-forgiveness. The process of self-forgiveness can be added to the category of ...."ouch, this is not fun."

I work clients through this process every week. I sit with them in their pain, when appropriate I encourage them to use their faith to aide them, and I encourage them to be gentle with themselves through the process. As a clinician, it is a privilege to work with clients through this process and see the outcome on the other end.

The lesson is the same whether you are helping someone or going through it yourself: negative feelings turned inwards are not easy. They are confusing and even when you have faith, sometimes reaching out to that "faith" is not as easy as it sounds. The "fix" is a struggle and there is a lesson to be learned from of all negative feelings we feel.

Underlying the emotions of shame, embarrassment, guilt,disappointment, etc there is usually an initial feeling that starts it all. Before you can learn the lesson of self-forgiveness, one must understand the reasons for their own behaviors and that too doesn't come at the end of a magic wand.

I'm rambling but what I am trying to express is simply this: emotions....the good, bad, and the ugly are all present to teach us lessons if we are willing to pay attention to them and learn from them as we go along.

Signing off... and practicing the importance of paying attention to the wide range of emotions that all of us encounter at some point in our lives.