Today I am feeling struck by the awesome and beautiful nature of God’s creativity. I’ve recently started working at a day nursery as a play assistant which is brilliant fun – I can’t really believe my luck that I’m getting PAID to have fun with little kids and encourage them to learn and grow. As part of my ongoing work training as a counsellor (only 6 months to go til I’m fully qualified, woop woop!) I’m also working with young children, but this time in a primary school one day a week doing play therapy with vulnerable children. I’m constantly reminded of how different each child is, how their characters, interests and concerns are so varied. With adults we can easily forget how unique and individual we are, when placed in categories according to age, gender, work, background, location, hobbies etc - it’s easy to feel lost in a big machine, conforming to societal norms and what’s expected of us.
I’m re-reading ‘Dibs’ at the moment, it’s a book by Virginia Axline which describes the process of play therapy so beautifully it’s not only a fantastic tool for those in the trade but also a real pleasure to read as a story. There’s a particular quote which is on my mind today and draws together all these thoughts of the various children (and adults too of course) that feature in my life. It’s about how individual we all are and how none of us can judge each other’s experiences or measure them against our own...
“For when horizons grow or diminish within a person the distances are not measurable by other people. Understanding grows from personal experience that enables a person to see and feel in ways so varied and so full of changeable meanings that one’s self-awareness is a determining factor”.
I believe in God the creator, who made each of us so incredibly unique – our looks, our talents, our hearts - and then when you add to that the individuality of human experience, it just blows me away! And that’s what I love about being a counsellor I think, it doesn’t matter what issues my clients bring to the therapy room, if they all had the same presenting issue they would still each be unique in themselves and have completely different experiences, reactions and meanings attached to that issue. Not only that but with each session they may find their feelings and responses change. And the part I REALLY love, each client finds their own path in their own time to work things out, it’s a fantastic journey to be alongside – challenging sometimes, interesting always, and hopefully, ultimately, worthwhile. And so I thank God today for each unique adult and child He’s created (including me!) with all their amazing gifts, troubles and complexities.
