To give perspective of the issues we will address together, our work will likely include larger questions such as “What type of person do you want to be?,” “What do you want your life to stand for?,” and “How do you want to be remembered?” Questions such as these can help us get back to our values, which can act as our compass to make sure we are going in the direction we want to travel in life.
John Lennon’s quote “Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans” rings true for many of us. Often times life gets hectic and before we know it we wake up one day and realize we are no longer living the life we set out to live. If this has gone on for long enough, it is common to recognize that we don’t even know what the right direction is, we just know that this isn’t it.
We can work together to identify what thoughts, emotions, and internal sensations (e.g., anxiety, stress, worry, depression, anger, frustration, guilt, etc.) are taking control of your life and then develop skills to free yourself from these powerful experiences. In doing so, you can start to let go of the often futile effort of trying to control your internal experiences and switch to focusing on taking back control of what you want to do in your life.
Poetry, song lyrics (such as the one above), metaphors, mindful meditation, reading materials, videos, and various in-office exercises can be incorporated to help make the process of getting back your life more practical, enjoyable, and relatable.