When the client comes into the session, the space is akin to a blank canvas. The client may offer a few scribbles here and there – a tap on an instrument, the humming of a few notes, hints of communication and expression. Subtle gestures. A word from their limited vocabulary.
The therapist uses these as keys into their world, to facilitate pathways into understanding, interaction, and ultimately, personal well-being. Kinda like how this artist turned her 2-year-old’s scribbles into beautiful works of art.
There are clients for whom we can plan the most structured of sessions and they’d follow through to the smallest detail. But clients like M and A have really been testing me in terms of responding to them on a moment-to-moment basis, improvising and creating suitable musical environments for effective facilitation. They provide only the subtlest of hints, light scribbles on our shared musical canvas. And again, the Sup has been encouraging me to use my intuition when necessary, saying that it will help me decide what to do in moments when the intellect fails to keep up.
I’ve read that meditation, the tuning into our inner self, can help to develop this intuition, this sharpness and clarity of thought in that moment of absolute present-ness and mindfulness. Something I’ve started doing before I sleep every night.
Striving onward!
Along Life's Path 