– Growth and Change: Nashville Counseling

 

by Stuart Kestenbaum. 

 

The light snow started late last night

and continued all night long

while I slept and

could hear it occasionally enter my sleep,

where I dreamed my brother was alive again

and possessing the beauty of youth,

aware that he would be leaving again shortly

and that is the lesson of the snow falling

and of the seeds of death that

are in everything that is born:

we are here for a moment of a story

that is longer than all of us

and few of us remember,

the wind is blowing out of someplace we don’t know,

and each moment contains rhythms within rhythms,

and if you discover some old piece

of your own writing, or an old photograph,

you may not remember

that it was you

and even if it was once you,

it’s not you now,

not this moment that the synapses fire

and your hands move

to cover your face

in a gesture of grief and remembrance.

This is a beautiful poem both in its expression of grief, but also in the importance of accepting change and growth.  And that in each season of life, even though our bodies and minds go on living, there is a death that occurs as we grow and change and morph into new states of our own being.  Therapy is a place where we can process grief, but at the same time, look at the ways life has changed us.  That there are little deaths, for all of us, along the way.

Whether individual or couples counseling in Nashville, we must all come to terms with the inevitability of change.  As we change as individuals, our relationships must change as well.  Things swell and contract, and the hope is that the longer we live, the more flexible we become.  But it takes practice and patience and courage to become more flexible.  Our bodies become more and more rigid the older we get.  And if we’re not careful, so will our hearts and our openness to the world around us.

If you are looking for a counselor in Nashville, TN, Chris Roberts has been working with couples and individuals for over 15 years.  Chris would love the opportunity to work with you.