“The art of living lies not in eliminating but in growing with troubles.” ~ Bernard M. Baruch

“How can I get this pain to go away?”

This is often what clients who seek my help ask me in a first session. Because they have never learned to manage and learn from their pain, they want to avoid it, eliminate it – find a way to hide from it.

The problem is that they have been unsuccessfully hiding from their pain for years by abandoning themselves – by staying focused in their head rather than their body, hoping that if they avoid feeling their feelings, the feelings will go away. They have been judging their feelings and turning to various addictions for the same reason.

When trouble comes, which it inevitably does, they intensify their avoidance of their feelings. Continue reading Are You Hiding?