Set Your Intention

So, back in 2013 when I set up this website I intended to make this blog something to use as a tool for me as well as anyone who would happen to read it. I thought I could include things that I notice as a trend in the work I do or share with others that I too go through struggles. I had every intention to update this blog regularly. As you can tell from the dates on my blog entries, that did not happen. When I sat back and thought about why I had not updated it much, I wondered...why?? Oh, I am busy with clients, paperwork, family life. While all of that is true there is something else as well. When I started writing this blog I felt extremely timid about it. I do not think of myself as a good writer. I can imagine things sounding beautiful in my head, but when I go to write them down they seem barbaric. When I admitted this to myself I realized there was someone else talking to me about this in my head. I could imagine a monster, or a meangirl, or some other critical character. 
    When in session I often rely on visuals in my head to help me understand what a person is trying to convey to me. Sometimes these are serious visuals of things that I have seen before in my life or sometimes they are from art or the entertainment world. A lot of the times these things are comedic because I LOVE humor! I think that when it is appropriate humor is one of the best ways to break down the walls of frustrating, stressful struggles. Humor gets people to explore things in a way they may never have before because they were too afraid or stuck. Humor allows you to release your anxiety that this thing is too big for you to handle. I love the disarming creativity of humor. A warning about humor though is that it can also mask what you are trying to work through and that can be stagnating or even worsen the situation, as in passive aggressive sarcasm. 
    Alright, so back on track. When I addressed my own stalling on this blog the thought that kept me from writing it was that I am a bad writer. What would people think of me? What would my clients think of me? What would I think of me? Would I reveal too much? Would I not include everything I wanted to say? Would I make major grammatical mistakes? Would I fail???? Oh my goodness. That kind of pressure makes a person just want to stop dead in their tracks paralyzed with self doubt. I'll be honest...as I sit here typing this I am thinking "Are you really going to put this on your website? Is this really the impression you want people to have of you?" and I am feeling a little nervous.
   Here's the thing about anything you do and thus why this blog post is called "Set Your Intention", with any of your endeavors in life you have you set an intention. What is your goal? Why are you doing what you are doing? Are you being true to your original intention? Why not? Are you being too hard on yourself or assuming that other people will think something unfavorable about you? If you wander from that intention then you will never reach your goal and never know what you are capable of. If you let your own thoughts of self doubt stop you then you are robbing the world of a contribution that could make it a better place to live if only for one person.
   Let's be honest about my blog...I am not an award winning writer. I am not intending this blog to lead toward a publishing deal. I think I have run over all the rules of paragraphs and my english teachers would probably faint if they read it. Is this a 3.5 paragraph? Is this in APA style? Most likely not even close. However, that was not my intention. My intention was to help you get to know me as well and I incorporated it on my professional website because I know that many people are nervous about getting counseling. Don't be nervous. You are ok and I have things I am going through too. A lot of therapists who do their work do it because they have empathy and they have that empathy and compassion because they maybe have felt the same things you have or have been through something they never thought they could tackle.  You are human. The first step to reaching your goal and staying with your intentions in life is to let them be known. Whew, I did it...I am going to publish this on my website. Here goes.....