A friend of mine, a colleague – a therapist himself, put up a post on Facebook, saying that he has a “collection” of outrageous comments from clients, people in his surroundings, on what a therapist “supposed” to be, behave or say. In other words, the fact that he is a therapist, with a much spiritual inclination, brought some people to expect him to be enlightened, and to act, think and behave as if he is a saint.
One of the funniest stories he has, is about a client who came to his practice for the first time, he offered her something to drink, and mentioned the evil drink – Coke (Coca Cola). She opened her eyes wide and asked him completely shocked – ‘you drink coke’? Long story short – she never came back…
This got me thinking, what are the expectations from a therapist/healer/practitioner or what have you. Is there a true demand from some people that their therapists would be perfect? Or maybe always happy? Never angry?
I thought maybe I should “come clean” about who am I and who am I not. I’m a human being, first and foremost. That means that by default I have weaknesses, just like any other human being. I believe that feelings are there for us human beings to use them, they are our compass. That’s why I allow myself to experience the full scope of my feelings. I allow myself to be angry, sad, afraid, happy, joyful, hopeful and anything else.
In fact, I urge my clients to allow themselves to experience the full range of their feelings, as I truly believe this is a crucial part in their journey. I’m not perfect. I’m a human being. As such, some of my choices will be unacceptable for some people, some of my points of view will be surprising to other people. The fact is, I’m not here to set an example of how each client thinks life should be lived, I’m here to support your process, to challenge and inspire you to be the best you can and want to be.
I’ve been and still am on a journey myself. I’ve met the darkness in myself and will probably meet some more of it again. I’d like to encourage you to do the same, because the light after the darkness, is peace, is joy, is bliss.
