Gary D Pearle

Good therapy is one of life’s most rewarding experiences. It’s informative, it’s amusing, and now and then it’s downright breathtaking—in those moments when the pieces fall into place and suddenly things get clearer, more workable. At the beginning though, it’s usually a tangle. A relationship isn’t right, or your work isn’t what you hoped it would be. Maybe you’re nervous or depressed. Something new may be trying to enter your life, but it’s doing so in a very uncomfortable way. That’s when it’s worth finding someone who has a feel for the possibilities—some of them quite surprising—that may lie just around the corner. I’ve been a therapist for for 28 years, and I was a theatre director for 14 years before that. And in both of these careers I’ve been drawn by the very same thing: the sense of meaning and purpose that arises when we’re animated by something that matters. What that is, of course, is very personal to each of us. And it can change. At times like that there’s a lot to adapt to. Therapy helps by expanding our repertoire in joyous ways, even when the outcome is still unclear. Meanwhile—and this is the most important thing—it’s a way of laying out the welcome mat for unexpected possibilities. It can take patience. But take my word: the secrets that unfold there are worth the wait.