As adults we, mainly, see ourselves as being in control of our lives and our destinies right? But have you ever found yourself - sounding, behaving or thinking just like your mother or some other person from your past? Could it be that we are not entirely as 'free' as we think? For some people, these similarities are helpful, but for others it can be a source of difficulties both internally with 'self talk' and in relationships with others.
I am interested in the transmission of messages and ways of being across families, and Transactional Analysis enables us to explore these in therapy. Children are believed to form an unconscious life plan, or 'script', based on their experiences. When it is formed, the plan has a protective function. Later it may not be so useful, and an individual can feel trapped in unproductive patterns of thinking, feeling or behaving. For instance, a child's nightly rituals might have kept the monsters at bay, however, as an adult, those same rituals might feel like compulsions, more limiting than protective.
After a recent therapy marathon - yes, a whole day of therapy, I felt energized and ready to break away from unhelpful aspects of my script. Ready to become an increasingly autonomous woman, individual and yet a part of the whole that is family, society, life.
How about you? Are there aspects of your script that are holding you back? Perhaps the limitations are leading you to feel depressed or maybe excessively anxious? Whatever it is, if you feel ready to live mindfully and on purpose, the life that you design for yourself, and you need a hand, do get in touch.