Self-perception Issues and How to Solve Them!
My career pivots on self-perception: the insight that it is not life’s events but how we view and behave around these circumstances that dictates mood, behavior, and ultimately success or failure – and I have twenty-years of client data to back up this philosophy.
Most sign up for therapy in states of stress, depression, or anxiety: Some clients fear impending mental illness or emotional breakdown. But those who define themselves “broken” or cast themselves “victims of circumstance” are by-in-large way off course.
Human struggle, to my trained eye, is more commonly a result of self-perception than actual psychosis. Although society encourages us to “lose 20 pounds” or “make more money” as the way toward completeness, the reality is no external modification is going to define or dictate how we ultimately feel about ourselves – because these fluctuations have nothing to do with the integrity of who we already are.
A Separate Peace
I base my psychotherapy practice on the educated assumption that we are born complete, with all the necessary parts already in place for satisfaction. I state this with eyes-open: I do not deny the reality of life challenges. However, trials and tribulations are external – separate pieces of occurrence – that do not have to be taken personally, become limiting, or self-defining.
I am a provider of self-perception analysis: My job is to empower clients to stop struggling and start enjoying their lives. When we are faced with challenges, we choose coping responses. When these responses prove effective, we reuse them the next time similar situations present themselves. Habits are created as we continually repeat the same responses to specific triggers.
Stress, anxiety, and depression arise when these go-to reactions no longer effectively solve the problem at hand. I reframe the “ouch” we feel when this occurs as a necessary and productive wake-up call. In a session, I often find myself responding: “Wow, that coping strategy may have worked in high school, but you’re now 30 (time for a shift in self-perception)!”
The Ultimate Experience
Most view the BMW as a convergence of beautiful automotive design and engineering: However, if a driver were to habitually stomp on both the brake and the accelerator at once, the sports car’s potential would be null and void.
To apply the above analogy, worn-out methods impede growth. The struggle occurs because we find ourselves operating out of non-awareness: Wellbeing occurs naturally as we awaken to our full potentials.
Therapy is a structured way of identifying habits that are no longer useful and fine-tuning more appropriate patterns of behavior. I point out ineffective thoughts and behaviors and encourage the application of maturity and wisdom so clients can more-completely use their God-given abilities: Form follows function.
When we understand that our challenges are not indications of core imperfections but opportunities for awareness, we can learn, grow, and evolve without limitation.