Outpatient Psychology Private Practice
Megan Swan
For me, therapy is a commitment to journey into the self that involves three waves of actualization. The first wave is awareness. We can not start to examine ourselves and our lives until we are aware of our thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions. Otherwise, we live at an auto-pilot, habitual, and reactive, shallow level. The second wave is understanding. We must start to understand the origins of our beliefs, thoughts, actions and relationships because it is always larger than the given moment. I call it our mental landscape – knowing where we are, where we have been, and where we want to go. We can learn to be less reactive and more responsive with ourselves and others when we have a deep understanding of our self and our histories. The third wave is acceptance. I believe it is only through accepting ourselves and our history with compassion can we conscientiously make the changes in our lives that resonate at a deep and true-self level.