Individual Holistic Therapy For Suffering

"Life is Hard.  When we acknowledge that, it becomes a little bit easier."  

-David Eshleman

If you are depressed, beat down, numb, addicted, or carry a wound from the past, you are likely in touch with a great deal of suffering. Chances are you are searching for a way away from the suffering that you are carrying.

The mammalian part of our brain is programmed to move towards good, and away from bad.  This seems to be one of the origins of suffering.  The buddhists have an idea, the separation of the two arrows.  One arrow, the act itself of pain, we cannot escape.  The second arrow, our reaction to it, our avoidance of pain and suffering, which creates then more suffering, we can learn to control.  The stoics also had a word for this: Apatheia, which as Ryan Holiday shares, is not about feeling apathetic, but rather a way to not let the bad feelings of suffering affect us as much as they could.  

Many ask, is there a way to not suffer?  Can therapy make me forget?  Is there no way to prevent suffering?  Unfortunately, suffering is part of the human condition, the duality of life, because without suffering there cannot be compassion.  This does not mean that we need to suffer needlessly, or that there is no hope for those who suffer, or that we cannot create meaning and find healing through it.  Therapy can help to reduce suffering. Sometimes, as a part of that process, we need to feel the emotions in order to work through them.  

Often, the counter intuitive approach is the best way forward.  Suffering, like all experiences, needs a place to be contained and released.  Therapy can be a part of that place.