When bringing about change during counseling I have found that going slow is faster than having a time schedule. Individuals change at the rate they are ready for. While the brain is rewiring itself it has to adapt to the changes taking place. Having a goal and trying to make yourself match your expectations for the goal does not work, unless it is a very simple goal like brushing your teeth every night before going to bed, and for some that is difficult. That is another reason why identifying your goals at the beginning is mandatory. There are a lot of steps during your path to change that must be followed, some of them easy and some difficult. Even the easy steps may take time. I have discovered the hard way that having a time schedule does not work. I get a lot of false positive feedback from the client that makes it difficult to assess their needs. The brain has an amazing way of knowing what the next step is and when it is ready for that step if it knows the direction it is moving. That is why it is necessary to learn to manage defenses and allowing them come down at a rate that this allows one to be effective in different areas of life. One’s defenses create resiliency, however a lack of defenses allows the work to go much faster and allows us to be more comfortable in a much larger environment. Knowing the next step in the process of change will move along much faster if the client stays on the path already identified.
A path to wholeness