Making New Choices: Avoiding the Holes in the Road

Therapy can provide you with a new frame of reference to solve problems and make effective changes. With the support of a therapist, you can progressively learn to make new choices.

I’ve experienced this personally and also professionally with my work with clients. However, it’s common to take two steps forward and one step back; it’s a very human thing to do.

 Process:

It’s a process which can be beautifully summed up by the following poem by  Portia Nelson

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters:

I

I walk down the street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I fall in

I am lost…. I am helpless

It isn’t my fault.

It takes forever to find a way out.

II

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I pretend I don’t see it

I fall in again

I can’t believe I’m in the same place.

But, It isn’t my fault

It still takes a ling time to get out.

III

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I see it is there

I still fall in…. It’s a habit

My eyes are open.

I know where I am.

It is my fault.

I get out immediately.

IV

I walk down the same street.

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

I walk around it.

V

I walk down another street.