As I know how important the 'right' environment is, I aim to create a safe, comfortable space within my counselling room for clients. I think I manage to achieve this ... I certainly get a lot of feedback from clients about the 'warmth,' 'safety,' and 'comfort' they experience within that room.
I also use my counselling room as my study. The room does have a nice, warmth about it and I enjoy sitting in there.
But last Friday afternoon, I decided I needed a change, and I decided to rearrange my therapy room / study. It was interesting to plan how to best do it. I obviously had to think about the practicalities of fitting the furniture in to a different arrangement. But I also had to bear in mind both my needs ... as a counsellor and for my writing / studying ... and also my clients'.
I think I've managed that! Or at least I hope I have. It works for me, I'll be interested to see how clients react to it; especially those who have worked with me in the room as it was. I appreciate that change can be unsettling; I just hope that the changes I've made in this room aren't unsettling for my clients.
The biggest thing for me personally, was moving my desk. For the last 6 years or so, it's been at the side of the room, facing a wall. So as I've worked, I've spent a lot of time gazing at a wall.
My desk is now in front of the window. And as I sit at my desk, I'm looking out of the window. I don't have the best view in the world, but being able to just see outside is making such a big difference to how I feel sitting at my desk. Even as I concentrate on the words appearing on the screen in front of me as I type this, my peripheral vision is still picking up the outside world.
And that feels so much more free. I didn't realise I felt so trapped, contained and restricted when I was gazing at a wall.
I had a very strong sense a little earlier, sitting here of feeling 'ready to face the world' and take on whatever comes my way. And I am now, quite literally, facing the world through my window. I also had a sense of 'being upfront,' of 'driving my own bus,' 'flying my own plane' ...
I could even feel 'the others' behind me!? Now, I have no idea of who these 'others' are, but I think that for me, the metaphor is about taking complete responsibility for me and my life ... or right now; me and my PhD and everything I've learned on my journey. Up until now, the research has led me ... it's been the one in the driving seat.
The balance has shifted now. I'm now in the driving seat and I'm ready to take everything I've learned forward! And I do have ideas as to what I'd like to do next. Those things probably can't happen until after my PhD, but they're in my head, germinating ...
From the Captain's seat, it's up to me which direction I go in; I'm ready to fly ...
