Have you had the experience of looking at a picture of yourself from several years back and being shocked by how young you looked? I look at pictures of me and my friends from our college years now and think, “look at those little freshmen babies... I feel old now”. I said last week that counseling can act like a mirror that helps you to see yourself more clearly. I talked about how pointing out relational blind spots is one way that can be true, but that's not the only way.

“I can't see my face. You can. I need somebody who holds a mirror up to me and that allows me to see.” This is a partial quote from a great video by Dan Allender. Of course, when he talks about not being able to see our own faces he means more than just physically. This is one of the tricky things about growth -- as the person trying to change we don't always have the full perspective. This is one of the ways I believe counseling can be a big help. A counselor can be someone

“I wonder what sort of a tale we've fallen into?” Our lives are shaped not just by the things that happen to us, but also what we believe about those things. Each event in our lives and the beliefs we hold about them form themselves into an overarching story that we use to interpret the world around us and our place in it. It's imperative that the story we believe is the true story, as I've written elsewhere. I think this is one of the most important benefits of counseling –

“So... why do people come to you for counseling?” This question came up as I was talking with a friend the other day. He wasn't simply asking about what kinds of issues I deal with most often, but really asking... why? Why do people come to counseling to deal with those issues? What is the benefit of counseling? What's the purpose? I had to think for a moment before responding. Just explaining the rationale for my life's calling, no big deal. I hope what came out made sense i