– Jumping All In with Therapy in Nashville, TN

Last Updated on February 6, 2024 by Chris Roberts

Afterwards

by: William Stafford

Mostly you look back and say,

“Well, OK. Things might have

been different, sure,

and it’s too bad, but look— things happen like that, and you did what you could.”

You go back and pick up the pieces.

There’s tomorrow.

There’s that long bend in the river on the way home.

Fluffy bursts of milkweed are floating through shafts of sunlight

or disappearing where trees reach out from their deep dark roots.

Maybe people have to go in

and out of shadows

till they learn that floating,

that immensity waiting to receive whatever arrives with trust.

Maybe somebody has to explore

what happens when one of us

wanders over near the edge

and falls for awhile.

Maybe it was your turn.

Exploration and curiosity are the hallmarks of good therapy.  Allowing ourselves to “fall” within the parameters of a good therapeutic treatment is part of what makes therapy effective.  In all of life, but especially in therapy, we must be willing to give ourselves fully and openly to the process.  For many of us, “holding back” is what initially constituted a form of wisdom and prudence, but eventually turns into a constrained state that keeps us from experiencing the all the aspects of life.

We learn to rely on the safety of the “known” spaces in life.  We become terrified to venture too far from our accustomed circumstances.