By
Rachel Rush, LMSW
“Once
his brother asked Ryokan to visit his house and speak to his delinquent
son. Ryokan came but did not say a word of admonition to the boy.
He stayed overnight and prepared to leave the next morning. As the
wayward nephew was lacing up Ryokan’s sandals, he felt a drop of warm
water. Glancing up, he saw Ryokan looking down at him, his eyes full of
tears. Ryokan then returned home and the nephew changed for the better.”
This
story captures the essence of what great therapy is. Ryokan’s nephew may
have been a boy living in Japan at the end of the 18th century, but
his experience of transformation captures the heart of what therapy is in
today’s modern world.
Like
Ryokan in the story, a skilled therapist knows when to speak and when to stay
quiet, when to witness another, and then, when to participate and use one’s own
emotions in the service of transforming another human being’s experience of him
or herself.
Therapy
is in essence, the art of experiencing one’s own ability to change for the
better, as Ryokan’s nephew experienced in the story. And therapy, like
the story shows, is having someone accompany you- and at times, guide you-
through that process.
Psychotherapist New York
New York Dynamic Psychology
http://www.mentalhealthnyc.org
topspeaker@yahoo.com
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