Transformation in times of emergency.

I often long for the simplistic awareness of being a child….Anticipating the next game, place you’ll visit, imaginary world you create with your siblings. Life was always in real time, authentic, wonder-filled and bursting with curiosity. Often when a child enters my office for therapy, their motherboard of wonder, ease and trust in themselves has been taken offline. Sometimes it is due to a stuckness or attachment to a belief that creates discomfort and fear. Other times, an event or transition thwarts their system into overdrive….Where they don’t even recognize the world around them anymore because it is so scary and unpredictable. I often picture an “underworld” or “dark place” they’ve crossed into and are struggling to find their way back. Contrary to popular belief, children DO have the keys back to the door they walked through when everything became dark. Sometimes, they just need someone to help them find the keys, often with a night light or cozy blanket in tow to get back to their safe place. I base my direction often with children on where they need to go first before their systems are ready to get “back online”. This normally is through play. Play is a portal to the avatar of our children. Their inner landscapes, etched out through their imaginary worlds. Transformation can occur in subtle ways or all at once… the importance of noticing….noticing…..noticing… what toys do they choose each time? What role do I play each session to them? What do they go back to every time? Under the outbursts, anxieties, nightmares and fears, something to them is the “monster”. the questions is, are they ready to face it and what do they need to do so?