How do you effectively make changes?

Thats a good question! Whether you use traditional therapies or do it yourself, often the strategy is to either use maximum will power to fight an urge OR find an alternative, more desirable behavior hoping that will solve the problem. However, neither of these methods usually last for the long term. The difficulty is -- that the actual root cause of the unwanted behavior has not been identified. And unless we address the root cause, the negative behaviors simply find a new (sometimes even more problematic) avenue to be expressed. Rarely are the behaviors the actual cause of the trouble, although, thats where we typically look to solve the it. So, how then, do you find the root cause of a particular negative behavior? Until now, there was no scientific formula and it was left to hit or miss. However, in the move toward faster, quicker, and better technologies, the solution has been discovered. So, read on...


The Birth of Intuitive Counseling

With every class and workshop that I took to learn the many masterful techniques that I've learned, there was accompaning literature. After a while, I noticed that they are said basically the same thing:  the benefits of these courses would be the "do all, end all" that I'd been searching for, and that these processes would finally make me happy, rich, successful, etc.  Well, if that were true, I would have only taken one course and I'd have it all.  But, when one course didn't resolve ALL of my life's problems, I took another workshop and  believed the literature that this was the one.  And when that didn't fix it all, I was in search of yet another course... and so on and so on...

The truth has been that each course has had something very valuable to teach me.  And each set of techniques is powerful.  Then after learning each set of skills, armed with my excitement for the newness of these processes, I would use them exclusively just like I'd been taught by my instructor.  I was always so impressed by the results in the classroom, I was denying the quiet, subtle inner voice that was telling me to deviate from the technique slightly by adding a twist that I'd learned from a different course.  After all, I didn't want to stray from the process because I believed that the power of the technique was in following it precisely as taught.  Although clients experienced powerful results during counseling sessions, I began to be discontented... and then confused... followed by a loss in my desire to counsel.  As a matter a fact, I found myself saying, "I hate couseling, and don't ever want to do it again."   And with that, I knew something was seriously wrong because helping effect change is my passion and my greatest joy!

For a couple of years, I tried to figure out what had happened to my desire to counsel and what went wrong.  While going over it in my head, I knew that I had practically perfected using the tools exactly like I'd been taught, so I didn't see that as the problem.  I even had sessions with other practitioners, and got to again expereince the powerful results of these techniques personally.  So, I'd get encouraged to go out and practice it again... and I'd try so hard to be just like the practitioners & instructors that had showed me how.  And still I wasn't happy with counseling.  I wanted so badly to use all that I'd learned that I would think through each technique over and over, but was finding aspects of these techniques that didn't feel comfortable.

So, what was "off" I wondered... Looking back, I had many clues along the way, but I was not paying attention to that quiet, subtle inner voice that was always there.  Ironically, one of my favorite encouragements to people when they are comparing themselves to others and feeling that they were falling short is:  "The world only needs one Suzie (if that was the name of that person they compared themselves to).  And if you became just like Suzie, then one of you is not needed.  And there would be nobody being YOU!  The world needs your uniqueness, don't try to be someone else, be all that God created you to be, then you'll find your joy!"  It took me long enough to finally "get it."  But, I finally did.  I wasn't supposed to be like those that had taught the classes or any other practitioner.  I needed to be ME!  I needed to follow that quiet, subtle inner voice that often guided me to adjust the techniques, or infuse the intention of several techniques together creating something even more incredible.  As I began to throw off the internal constraints I'd placed on myself about trying so hard to be like someone that I was not, I began to get excited.  I began to observe new strategies coming into my awareness... ones that were unique, and yet had traces of other techniques that I'd learned in the past, and yet completely different at the same time.  I knew I was on to something.  The more I listened to my inner voice, the more clear my understandings became.  And everything seemed faster and easier than anything that I'd learned in any one class.

The key was before me all along.  Listen to that quiet, subtle inner voice!  When I do, the answers come.  And I no longer felt that I was betraying each of those courses I'd taken, instead I have such a gratefulness for each technique I've learned, as it is the synergy of all of those skills that I use today.

I've found, we are all so unique that not any one technique is the ultimate tool to fix everyone.  I believe every person could benefit from every technique that I learned, however, there are particular techniques or insights that would be best suited for you to give you the biggest bang for your buck.  And in the interest of time, wouldn't you want to know what that one technique or insight is?  Well, that's were the "intuitive" part of the counseling comes in.  Intuitive counseling means I listen to that quiet, subtle inner voice to access the best direction that is just right for your needs.  Therefore, every session is unique and is tailored for YOU!