*Counselor Connections*
Musings from a cluttered, quirky counselor mind
Monday, April 11, 2022
A Soft Place to Land
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Goodbyes to Ghosts
Monday, February 21, 2022
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
On "doing the work"
Recently someone asks what it actually means
"to do the work"
Appreciation for candor and demands to simplify abstractions
Yet leaning into it, and making space for what comes up
is indeed the work
When a bird appears outside the window, may we find the ability
to pause.
May we untangle ourselves from the frenetic pace of doing
to observe.
May we allow it to be there in all it's bird-ness
to get curious.
Most especially if it's a crow or a blue jay-
May we examine what is happening
on the walls of our interior world
May we see magic, matching exterior decor
Warning: it may feel yucky...stay with it
Sink deeper still.
May something soar through:
A memory
A realization
A connection
Swimming in liquid metal, insight pools
Permanent welding to this discomfort, not a chance
Marinating does not breed pain
Rather raises it for illumination, new spotlight:
Truth.
Clear seeing, leading to wise understanding
leading to acceptance, leading to release.
May you watch the bird's wings as it flies away-
You've done the work.
Keep going...
Sunday, November 21, 2021
Softness and Truth
Electric liquid pools in wrists and hands
Activated by a heart being noticed
Autopilot mode's power cut off
Mindfulness floods in hot and fiery
Gentle care like cotton fleece
Supports the work of becoming aware
A breath the cushion for a hazy stare
The push to determine next steps
Shouting callously from somewhere
To be here now
Is all that it is fair
Sunday, November 14, 2021
Space
"Space"
Amanda C. Symmes, LICSW
Sitting down with the feelings today
No knocking needed- just come on in
and join me for a cup of tea
(or whatever you'd like to sip on)
Then spill it -
Tell me what I need to know right now,
Why are you here?
Resentment, you can talk first,
You've been
awfully loud lately...
what gives?
PAUSE
Ohhhhh, what an interesting shade
of excrement you are
Sitting quietly with you
here and acutely mulling over-
your role
purpose
message
You fizz into everything I do lately
Your rancid stench is strong and refuses
dissipation
I'll find what's rotting, to free you
What's that?
Your near enemies are stress and frustration?
And since they've been improperly cared for
you had to step in?
Welcome
I am ready to listen
Breathing leads to seeing leads to hearing leads to healing
You say your far enemies are
autonomy and space?
Why YES. Of course they are.
Okay, I see you
I appreciate this offering
Breathing in, I make space for all of it
And your message
seems tangled up in
something else?
Who is that hiding
behind you?
Why are they holding your
hand?
Come in, come in
Share your tea with me, please.
Ohhh, there you are Fear.
I almost didn't recognize you.
Perhaps, I neglect to actually look at you mostly,
it is simply too much to hold
but seeing you hold resentment's hand
I feel less afraid.
I see you in yourself.
You come in so many colors-heavy and expansive
The gradience of gray
comes alive now, majestically
Purple and emerald are
fused here twisting around inside as well
My chest tightens only briefly at
at the thought of letting you stay
But in your other hand I see
your tea you clutch is trembling as you
seek your own release from me
It's not the other way around
Has it been this way all along?
I wasn't paying attention Fear
and I am sorry for that
You are obtuse and seeing all
the dangers ahead is your job
and it can serve me if I listen with wisdom
and discern well
Rather, in my rejection of you
you've become caged here
with me
Each of us stuck holding the key for the other
So while resentment has stepped to the side
It waits for you and I
to do our thing...
Inhale, Exhale, Release
Oh how beautiful
Your tea is gone and we've
pulled ourselves together
You are not shaking and
foreboding at all
You are a magnificent swirling
energetic light
Pure power and potential
When I see you as this
you only become more
precious and beautiful
and like a ribbon or an aurora
You call for me to trust
Encircling me in electricity, fueling me with newness-
Faith
Each of us, drawing energy from the other,
we gain strength to move on
Your near enemy may be worry,
But your far enemy is the bravery that I need right now
I had no idea that looking just a bit closer and holding myself still here,
That I would find you...
What is coming next, I do not know
How wondrous to not get to know!?
Relief whispers that our path has not ended yet
We dodged the temptation to shove
ourselves onto the highway
of "expected next steps"
for a quick trip to nowhere good
Continuing this slow journey
With caution-
This terrain is less traversed
So the perils that lurk can hurt, at times
These messengers that dropped in for tea
Remind
to give mind to all of it
They were never trying to take up residence
In fact they have already alerted the
more important guests to arrive
Soon
They just sought time tea for tea
With me
To spill into this space together
Now that I feel them
slipping out the door
I am content in my home with Space.
Sunday, August 22, 2021
This
Staring out the open window,
the thought returns-
the urgency grows as it clings and
contains
the etiology of the question
remains
Information is given,
not as a gift to behold
rather a burden or curse
a game of hot potato
and what is deemed worse
and while it's tempting
to go for the low hanging
fruit:
past crimes
improprieties
anecdotal encounters
that reside
in slime
it has not gone there
-yet
you must be curious why?
perhaps you won't wonder
forever because
the real truth
stands up for itself
while you hide under
cloaks and with shields-
a new narrative
wrapped inside of
a subversive spin
through media
mitigating your loss
stealing truth for itself
can only happen for
so long
for the authentic Truth
resides comfortably
inside of itself
waiting for reality's
light to shine brightly
and illuminate all that
is right
so as I brace myself
for your next pointed
assault
on character, calculated
printed and broadcast
with tools only ever
intended to harm
I know we will be safe
Seeing the storm for
what it is-
I see the way the trees
bend and give way
withstanding the weight
of what threatens-
and allows
This intensity
is temporary and
the strength of the trees
stands for itself
as do we, rooted
in all that is sacred
because love and kindness heal
and whilst under this brutal attack
it will remind us what is real
scrutinizing the winds that bloat
shifting not with a lightness
but the option to float
because change must happen
now-
-and will,
regardless of your plan
I am blown back to thoughts
about the importance of our soul-
What dwells within yours?
A deep restorative breath
reminds me
truth lives here
in my lungs, home, heart
In my metta practice too
May you have goodness
to fill your soul and abate
May you have healing
to teach the soul to shed hate
May you have insight
to learn the soul determines fate
Please know, it's never too late