I often give my clients an illustration of a CRYSTAL BALL and ask them to fill in the centre with anything that they would like to have in their lives going forwards.  I encourage them not to leave anything out and to include things that they really would like to manifest.  Then we think about a particular timescale for manifesting this, their ‘Ideal Model’.  Whilst this could be quite a long period of time, I generally would advocate 2-5 years as being a good rule of thumb.  

Psychosynthesis is not some branch of little-known magic, but a part of it does deal with the aspirational, the desired outcome.  Everybody has wishes and the therapy space can be a place where people can speak about them freely without fear of ridicule, humiliation or encountering the kind of hostility that comes from a relational dynamic where others have an investment in your remaining where you are.  

As Eckhart Tolle states – ‘When you complain, you make yourself a victim.  Leave the situation or accept it.  All else is madness.” 

When I was searching for a name for my practice, all those years ago, I first settled on Connected-to-Self, essentially meaning – ‘connection to a Higher Self’.  This just didn’t seem to land with anyone, and I remember that I used to get exhausted spelling out the hyphens of my website when asked for my email address. 

Then I thought about what I see most amongst my clients – it’s people who are stuck, who can’t ‘move on’, who’ve ‘taken a wrong turning’ or keep walking down the same street and falling into the same hole.   

I started to think in terms of next steps and literally … the Way Ahead sprung to mind!  

In terms of desired outcomes and ideals then, I find so often that it’s those next few steps that count and that feel so crucial. Which way to go?  Which fork of the cross-roads to take? 

In Psychosynthesis we make a lot of use of visualisation, imagery, dreamscapes and the imaginal.  We use metaphor and symbolism to express ourselves and our hopes and dreams, be they minimal and humble, or lofty and altruistic.   

But essentially, I am always holding in mind, what would be my client’s most cherished wish? And how can that come into being through first, expression, and then through taking those first tentative steps?