Many have asked why my business image is a lighthouse. The lighthouse has long been a symbol of hope. I believe that hope is crucial to the therapy process and motivates progress. Hope can be easy to spot…
or it can be quite difficult to find, having more of a “Where’s Waldo?” quality…
Beyond that, the path to hope can take many forms. Some paths can be quite easy to navigate…
or, like most things worth doing, pursuing the path to hope can include some challenges.
Whatever the path, therapy can help a patient pursue it. When you’re in the muck and the mire of a situation or life event, you can’t always see clearly. You often can’t see the forest for the trees. An objective viewpoint can help a person reframe a situation or see a particular event differently. A person’s perception is that person’s reality, even if it doesn’t match up with anyone else’s, and we act based on our own reality.
Along the lines of perception, the Chinese symbol for “crisis” is a combination of the symbols for “danger” and “opportunity.” Therapy can help acknowledge the danger in a particular situation while not losing sight of the opportunity that dealing with it presents. While friends or family members may often be able to help us see things differently, they can also be too close to the situation to truly give us the perspective we need.
I want to be a symbol of hope in my work with patients, and my hope is that this helps you find yours. Above all, do not give up: “But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.” ~ Psalm 9:18, NIV
