From Outward Therapist to Inner Guide

There may be no greater gift than the transformation possible through the healing or therapeutic relationship. My one and only embodied therapist saved my life. Not in the sense that I was wanting to take my life or end my life. The healing relationship saved me from a life of egoic-based separation.

Working with my therapist served as the mirror on my perceptions. Another trusted soul was able to poke at my perception of reality and gently guide me to question that existence.

The journey with my therapist began tentatively. I was afraid. But I had grown less resistant to my fear of change than my fear of staying the same. The way I was living my life was no longer serving me. I was not at peace, yet I didn’t quite realize this was the core issue at the time.

As the relationship with my therapist grew and matured over time, I was granted the blessing of knowing my authentic self was being witnessed. I could show up and try and put on a façade and act like someone I was not. But I quickly grew to know my therapist could see right through me. At first this was unsettling. But it quickly became an immense relief. I could, perhaps for the first time in my life, be exactly who I was, without judgement.

After my therapeutic relationship came to a formal end, something quite poignant started to unfold. An inner guide started to emerge, and this inner guide was a graceful extension of the embodied therapist I had been working with. Through my working relationship with my embodied therapist, I was able to develop a stronger connection with my authentic being, what might be called ‘Higher Self’ in some milieu.

What was evident to me at the time was that this new, authentic teacher and inner guide was not a replacement for my embodied therapist but an extension of the therapeutic relationship—a sort of Therapist 2.0! This new therapeutic relationship was one based on opening myself to the wisdom of the heart. This new therapeutic relationship was training me to move away from my fears into the presence of God—to be ‘in’ love as a state of being.

The transformation from the outward therapist to inner guide was, in retrospect, a natural progression for me. Not a progression in terms of advancement or raising my level of consciousness. The progression was more about an expanding awareness of returning to my original state of being. I needed to grow in relationship with my inner guide to return to my original state of being. My outward therapist played a critical and fundamental role in ushering me toward this primordial awareness. My outward therapist was a stepping stone along the road of the healing relationship.

Some of you might be asking, “But what did the first therapist actually do to facilitate this transformation?” The therapist didn’t ‘do’ so much as ‘be.’ The therapist was a grounding presence that modelled the possibilities inherent in being in the present moment. The therapist did not offer any advice. The therapist merely witnessed me; and through a process of gentle inquiry, the therapist guided me to an awareness of my true, authentic and divine self.

As for the inner guide, the ‘how’ of the healing relationship is reminiscent of trust. For many people, opening yourself to an inner guide may be analogous to building your intuition. The relationship with this inner guide goes beyond intuition, however. The inner guide nurtures an enduring trust in life. When you develop a trust in the unfolding, problems melt away and all that remains is peace.