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Writer's pictureThomas Norris

Counseling: For Those Silently Suffering. For Those in Pain.


Counseling, especially Spiritual Counseling, can certainly have its joyful and laughing moments. Ultimately, all counseling is about uplifting the person and bringing them to a better place in their life. However, the underlying issue in nearly all counseling is suffering and pain. If all people were happy and satisfied, there would be no need to seek out our services, and, of course, there are happy and satisfied people in our world. Still, our experience with the human condition indicates that so many need counseling services, and more and more are reaching out for it. Simply put, life on Planet Earth is often complicated and stressful. As Spiritual Counselors, we recognize this appears at all levels of our being: body, mind, heart, and soul. Shamans, Buddhists, and others consider these our five light bodies: physical, mental, emotional, etheric-karmic, and spiritual. We can experience suffering and pain at each or all of these Lightbodies.


Recently, an old memory surfaced, reminding me of why I am a counselor and inspiring this blog. I was finishing a sad and painful divorce. I had very little money. I lived in a tenement apartment. I traveled to work and visited my kids on a Kawasaki motorcycle because I couldn’t afford a car. This particular night, I was going to see someone I had been dating. It was a blinding downpour, as it can only rain in Miami. As I sped through the streets of Coral Gables, I screamed all the way to her home. The pounding rain and my helmet masked the sound, but, traveling through the quiet, darkened streets, I screamed nonstop uncontrollably at the top of my voice for twenty minutes. I arrived at her home a sodden, miserable mess, not knowing why.


I was overwhelmed with sadness at this memory. There had been so much pain hidden inside for so long, and it was just beginning to surface. I am an incest survivor, but the memories of my abuse were still several years in the future. So, I had little understanding of why I carried so much emotional pain. Forty-five years and a lot of healing later, I had forgotten the breadth and depth of that pain—until that memory. Back then, some days, it was so bad that I’m not sure how I got through each day to work, parent, live, and love.


Thank God for my counselor, Dr. Doris Stiles, at the University of Miami Counseling Psychology Center. Her work and support saved me and got me through a very rough few years. As a young social worker, it reinforced for me the healing power of counseling and the blessings of a great counselor. It reminded me of why my staff and I do what we do now. We heal people in pain. We relieve suffering. We provide people with a renewed sense of direction and purpose. We help them connect and find loving relationships and friendships. We bring joy and laughter back into their lives. We help them understand.


I hope you, as a counselor, remember why you do what you do. It is noble and life-saving work. There are so many silently suffering. There are so many in pain. We have an opportunity to fulfill a Higher Purpose, to raise the love vibration of the planet through our healing work with trauma, depression, anxiety, loneliness, grief and loss, addictions, abuse survivors, wounded couples and families, victims, offenders, and mental illness. Thank you for your service!


Blessings,

Tom

Rev. Dr. Tom Norris

Visit our counseling staff at www.InnerLifeTransformations.org.

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