My Journey in Finding Myself
I was introduced to Terry and his services through a mutual friend. At that time I did not know he ran Find Yourself programs but it quickly evolved from seeing Terry initially due to physical discomfort.
At this time I was experiencing very high levels of anxiety daily resulting from a very stressful work circumstance that had ‘unhinged’ me in every area of my life. I was not sleeping, had racing and overactive thoughts, and was generally physically and emotionally exhausted (I had been putting a lot of energy into worrying!). I was not very functional or ‘giving into’ my significant relationships within my life. I was disengaged from joy, energy and those aspects of my life that were life giving. This wasn’t the only time I had experienced anxiety in my life however this felt like a serious mountain or hurdle that needed to be dealt with.
Physically – nausea, not eating well, losing weight, tired ++, chest pain and agitation
Emotionally – erratic, emotional, fearful, constantly anxious and ‘wound up’
Mentally – foggy, exhausted, unable to concentrate at work, paranoid and unable to make clear decisions
Spiritually – difficult engaging in my normal spiritual practices or finding it very hard to ‘connect’
Energy – non existent!
I didn’t have any reservations of the Find Yourself approach per se, however I would have to say there was intermittent fear of ‘the work’ and also a distrust of myself to be able to do ‘the work’. I knew that I was in unchartered waters in terms of dealing with what I had created as opposed to just getting through a storm and forgetting about it for a while until it turned up again (anxiety and fear that is). As a well known song says “In the end you must contend with the monster that you are feeding”…that is what it felt like for me.
I have always had a very real spiritual experience within my own personal faith so certainly didn’t feel like the approach was weird.
The beginning of the program took me through a very uncertain and ‘foreign’ experience that somehow also feel very right and true. Often for me in the beginning it was a bit like a grieving process of the sense of self or those parts of me that had been reacting as they were. Letting go of patterns of behaviour is not an easy task, so until I looked a little deeper and explored deeper there was a sense of vulnerability at times.
I developed that ability to tap into other parts of myself that were made up of values and those parts of me that were life giving and true. I found that Terry helped me develop practical strategies that enabled me to meet some of the challenges that anxiety was throwing at me and see situations in a different light. This process had its ups and downs and it probably took me a good 6 months to integrate this into my life however there were many ‘moments’ of revelation and steps forward that occurred much earlier than that timeframe. Each time I saw Terry there was something new that we explored or built upon.
Awakening of my own intuition and trust in myself was very key for me. Realising and tapping into the potential that exists within me that I had probably only seen glimpses of before. I experienced significant differences in quality of relationships, new and workable responses and navigation of difficult circumstances (by the way the initial anxiety provoking circumstance had not changed it was still threatening me however it was my perspective and outlook that enabled me to deal with it). I can now give myself options related to using workable responses and act from my value system as opposed to reacting from fear or a need for perfection.
I would describe Terry as very intuitive, insightful and genuinely interested in seeing his clients experience a real connection with who they are and what they have within them. The program is one of self discovery and can only progress through the client making choices to discover who they are. It is very far from being a passive process where therapy is ‘done to you’, it is something you choose to embrace, view with interest and genuine curiosity and then activate within yourself.
I rate now my life as somewhere between 8-10/10 depending on the day. For me now I don’t engage (as much) anymore nor act on negative feelings as they are very transient. I am more likely to look a little deeper and evaluate or be conscious to how I am ‘being’ and ‘where’ I am acting from. Mentally I have many more moments of feeling clear and having clarity, and even when I don’t I have tools and ways to recognise where I am at and how I got there.
The light bulb experiences for me were:
- Acceptance is key
- Workability of thoughts and actions
- Connecting with intuition that is your ultimate truth as mind, body spirit are connected
- Making choices moment by moment of whether you are fostering and nurturing life and energy for you and those around you.
I would recommend Terry’s work to others IF you are prepared to take on an intense journey and are willing to do the work that can create something new within you. The rewards are certainly there.
Briony, Occupational Therapist
(Briony asked that only her Christian name be used in this review to guard against judgement by future employers)