A chance to examine your life.

I don't know if you are familiar with the saying, "an unexamined life is a life not worth living!" Most of us go about our day-to-day living in a haze of doing and always being someone or something for others. Schedules are heavy for most people; whether that's college/school work, career responsibilities or taking care of the home, it has become more unlikely for people today to have the time to sit and quietly contemplate or reflect on what is going on in their lives.

So maybe this is all you need right now; to take the opportunity more regularly to take time to reflect and consider how you feel and where that comes from. For most of us, however, we have not had the education around this. By education I don't mean going to an institution to study the subject, but that we were not taught by the previous generation....or were we? Our parents and grandparents were undoubtedly busy hardworking people, but they had far fewer distractions than today's generation. They were more likely to come across opportunities to contemplate; they were more likely to walk instead of drive places, they had fewer options on TV to distract them, and they didn't have access to mobile phones or computers. Not all knowers of knowledge, however, are great teachers!

Psychotherapy and counselling are a far more accepted part of life in Ireland right now. We were not all taught how to manage our emotions, or even recognise what they are and how to articulate them. Going to therapy gives us the opportunity to talk out loud, the thoughts and feelings we may never share with anyone else. In so doing, we can make better sense of why we think and feel the way we do; where it comes from, and how we can learn to manage it with awareness.