Counselling & Psychotherapy

Counselling Central London Psychotherapy, Consciousness, Unconsciousness, Meaning of Dreams, Dream Interpretation
Role Of The Unconscious - "The Yet To Be Revealed"

Being Conscious & Unconscious The unconscious is more than our blind spots. We can't know what we don't know & throughout Iife we shift states between being connected with ourself - conscious, and then not connected - unconscious. Counselling & psychotherapy can help to make sense of what might be unconscious in us, so we make connections. Some people experience their consciousness like flipping a switch - from feeIing cut off to being connected - alive, others experience a more gradual process of being less on "auto-pilot" or in a dream-like state. It is as if we are aware of ourseIf - who we are, what we are doing & experiencing in some moments, yet other times not, as if we are not fully awake. We tend to be more conscious of ourself when we make time to reflect and in times of change, when we are having a crisis, at a turning point, or when we need to make important choices. When we, or a loved one, are seriously ill, or someone has died, it is often experienced as a wake-up call - we can sense our own existence, separateness, preciousness of Iife & consciousness. Also, when we are left behind, singled out or feeI in a minority, this too can trigger our sense of consciousness.

Stream Of Consciousness When we wake up in the morning, it is as if our mind ignites layers of consciousness unfold and we begin to internally talk to ourseIves. We may have recognised last night's dream, or quickly turn to reflecting on yesterday's events or today's plans. We experience certain likes & dislikes, moods, emotions & thoughts, etc. This process happens throughout the day, some experiences we are in touch with and others not. We all have fluctuating levels of consciousness, no matter what our intelligence.

Consciousness Follows Experience Through our actions we have an experience, which creates more consciousness. These experiences offer us an opportunity to reflect. This inner-reflection can highlight aspects of us that now need paying attention to, which we have previously ignored (unconscious). The therapy can help with our unfolding consciousness.

Unconscious Reactions Often when we are in fast reaction ("I found myself..."), we may not be conscious of our intentions or struggle to think straight. As we slow things down & reflect it may become clearer to us which part of us inside was in reaction, maybe previously unconscious. Our unconscious reactions or action may also have an impulsive or compulsive element. Counselling & psychotherapy can help us with our awareness in our emotions, thoughts, actions & body (physical sensations).

Evolving Consciousness - Hindsight The benefits of hindsight can help us, yet hindsight can also be a curse if we blame ourself, lack forgiveness. Our consciousness evolves, for example, looking back on our childhood we later become aware of how we often unconsciously reacted. Back then we weren't as wise as we are now. When we were younger, the child in us was not conscious (for we could only know what was in front of us at the time), and although we are more conscious now, the child inside us may remain largely unconscious. What was undiscovered becomes uncovered through our conscious & unconscious curiosity. At times we Iive as adults through our unconscious child, who can't fully remember their past, yet repeats it in adulthood (often experiences, which we were unable to integrate and didn't seem to make sense back then). Like evolving wisdom this process of knowing (consciousness) and not knowing (the unconscious), does not stop when we reach adulthood. We have all slipped into ways of behaving, that we have regretted. It's only after hindsight & reflection that we realise that we could have chosen a different path. We can be wiser after the event. This new wisdom may be about our evolving consciousness. For example parents only learn how to be parents, by being parents, and they are much wiser (conscious) after the event.

Evolving Consciousness - The Meanings We MakeAs we become more conscious of how we have been seeing the world and ourseIf, this consciousness evolves. It is as if the lenses, through which we experience & see things, opens up. Some people report evolving consciousness as knowing a little more about ourself today than we did yesterday, as our continuous interactions with everything that happens around us creates continuous meanings. Some of these meanings we create consciously, and others unconsciously, yet both influence our actions. As we become more conscious, we may question what's important to us & our priorities may change. The psychotherapy considers how you think & feeI, what matters to you, the conscious (known) & unconscious (unknown) parts of yourself.

What We Ignore In Us We all tend to overlook or ignore aspects of our personality - maybe our sense of our body, certain feeIings or emotions, some of our thoughts & creative imagination, aspects of our sexuality or our spiritual side. The therapy may take into consideration how in touch & alive we are in our physical feelings, how we notice & utilise our mind, how we experience & express our range of feeIings, as well as aspects of our sexuality & sense of the spiritual - whatever this means to us.

Integrating What We Ignore Throughout our existence we are in a process of becoming more conscious. The psychotherapy allows the space for this uncovering work and may take into account, and help integrate, what might be emerging from our hidden dimensions - our overlooked unconscious aspects, things we keep at the back of our mind that we may not always be in touch with and our "shadow". (Our "shadow" is what we repress, and don't own, usually because it is unacceptable. This "dark side" includes our instincts, any depression, anxiety, anger, alongside our spontaneity, creativity, love.) This integration of what we ignore may deepen and enrich us.

Self-Reflective Most of us can recall moments of saying something like "I found myself thinking ........." or "I was watching it happen". We all have reflective moments - maybe through long distance travel or even in the bath, or on the park bench - listening & connecting to ourself (see also Being & Doing), whereas other times we are out of touch with ourseIf. This observing part of ourseIves, who watches over us, can be experienced as being more conscious than the part of us that is unable to reflect, or realise what we are in touch with. The therapy can help enable us to become more in touch, conscious of ourself, those around us and the wider world.

The Realm of the Unconscious The way we see the world is limited to our consciousness. Most of what we do is not controlled by our conscious mind. The unconscious stirs inside of us. We all send & receive unconscious messages to ourseIf, most of which we are not fully aware of. We also have unconscious thoughts, beliefs, feelings & behaviours. We can sometimes sabotage things, yet not fully know why we do this, which may come from our unconscious. We therefore unconsciously give out messages & stimulus to others (as they do to us), which influences our thinking, and in turn affects our beliefs, feeIings & actions. Advertisers, with their subliminal messages, know this unconscious programming (and coded forms), evocative words, images, inferences well. Events from our past, whether traumatic or otherwise (e.g. a certain look, mannerism, even a so called "throw away" remark), can shape our responses & unconscious triggers in the present. We may for example become over-stimulated or fearful more than we need to be by an event now because it reminds us of a painful or traumatic event in the past. So acting in a fear-driven way, may entirely be appropriate as a survival strategy, because we have yet to find different ways of responding. As we become more selfaware, we can consciously change our previously unrecognised responses, responding less automatically, in pre-programmed ways. We can be more alive, open, "in the moment", relinquishing what we've known (See also Releasing Ourselves & Letting Go). Some people report this experience of becoming more conscious as a gradual awakening, a sense of their own "presence", "presence" of others and the wider world.

Listening To The Evolving Unconscious We may have reached a stage in our Iife, where problems we have ignored now need attention. Our unconscious can be viewed as an ally, pointing towards what we might need to pay attention to. Often deep down, we know the real underlying concerns we need to address, yet sometimes we are not aware, as if they are buried somehow in our unconscious, until they unravel & reveal themselves over time, or during the process of therapy. Some of our initial issues we come with may be familiar to us & have lifelong patterns, as if their messages carry echoes from our past, reverberating into our future. Therefore counselling & psychotherapy is a space to listen to & wonder what also might be communicated beyond your presenting issue - this can be discovered together in the therapy process.

Underlying Symptoms It is therefore common for people to come to therapy with a range of issues - those of a more immediate nature alongside underlying concerns, indicating that emerging unconscious issues may also need attention. At some point during the therapy process we may discover that we have very different needs to the ones we thought we had at the beginning. Issues we bring to counselling & psychotherapy may carry messages - like cues or pointers, which may be a wake up call or turning point for us - our unconscious side (unknown, to be discovered aspects of us). The process of therapy from this perspective views our issues also as symptoms, which need paying attention to. In therapy there is an opportunity, for both of us, to wonder together about the meaning of any past events, and what might need to be learnt, healed or integrated.

Conscious & Unconscious Intentions & Expectations We all have conscious intentions & unconscious intentions - doing things yet being unsure why, which we also bring along to the therapy. (For example we may not be fully in touch with certain feelings or motivations, e.g. envy or jealousy, so we become rivalrous with someone without knowing why. Or, stemming from our past, we may always try to fix things or please others.) The same applies to our unconscious & conscious expectations. These can be considered in the counselling or psychotherapy.

Impact Of The Unconscious The unconscious has no sense of time, it is more of a space. In this space it can be as if previous experiences & related feelings can be experienced & brought into the present time. Our dreams and imagination may also have a different realm of time, pointing to what might be emerging, transforming for us (see also Present, Past & Future). Losing our sense of time, because we are so engrossed or engaged in an activity, waking up in the morning & drifting off to sleep at night are experiences of movements of consciousness. Our unconscious influences us when we are both asleep (e.g. dreaming) & awake (e.g. our imagination, daydreaming). Some aspects or parts of ourseIf go unnoticed, and take time to percolate into to our consciousness. Psychotherapy can provide a space to shed light on your unconscious thoughts, processes, subliminal messages, which influence your actions.

Interpreting Dreams - Meaning Of Dreams Dreams can be a path for the unconscious to come into more form by being revealed into our conscious mind for the purpose of becoming aware of something, possible transformation or healing. Sometimes we can have lucid dreams, meaning we know that we are dreaming, that the experience is not happening in physical reality. Lucid dreaming & interpretation of dreams can also help us make sense & wonder about possible solutions in our real world. Some dreams may be of little consequence, others may be pivotal. Counselling & psychotherapy works with our imagination & dreams and offers dream interpretation by discovering what dreams metaphorically mean for you. This may sometimes include recounting your dreams, so dream meaning & new understanding may emerge. We may look at your dreams not so much in a concrete way, but more what your dreams & symbols may personally mean for you. Witnessing our dreams, and witnessing ourself in our dreams, can help us make meaning of our dreams.

Source Of Our Motivation As the world impacts on us (we have experiences) - if we act unconsciously, we are reacting (sometimes it is as if we are acting from a script - a play not of our own making), and our will is unconscious. Many decisions we make are often not conscious ones (unconscious will). We may have a sense of missing out on things. As we act, not caught in reaction, our will is more conscious, as we become aware of what drives us. In order to bring about change - if that is your desire - counselling & psychotherapy therefore attempts to understand what lies behind your current difficulties, paying attention to your will or resolve (source of motivation) - in both its conscious & unconscious form. When these unconscious motivational forces (our will) are evoked & are at work, we react in unaware ways, almost blindly. Some people describe the will as the opposite to inertia. (See also Accessing Motivation, Acting From Our Personal Will)

Fresh Insights The psychotherapy may therefore explore your awareness (of the source of your motivations) and help to determine your conscious & unconscious choices & decisions. Who inside of us (what part of us), and what exactly is driving us, can be important enquiry for some. Fresh insights (consciousness) & challenges may emerge in how you take responsibility & authorship, so you participate in the Iife you consciously choose.

Bridge Between The Unconscious (Unknown) & Conscious (Known) Our experience of consciousness unfolds into our field of awareness (see also Self-Awareness, Observation & Reflection). Our conscious seIf can't know about our unconscious seIf (nor can our unconscious know our unconscious), so the role of counselling & psychotherapy is not only to listen to what you are saying literally, but also to see how you also communicate through your body, imagination, dreams, fantasies, symbols, words, metaphors, etc., as a means of finding out more about you, your unconscious desires & what else might be emerging. Being in our own ground may be important.

Collective Unconscious We are unconsciously affected by others & the world around us. Some people call this a social unconscious. It is argued that through our ancestral past we all have shared experiences, that images & archetypes link these. The counselling & psychotherapy can reflect upon these effects with you.

Consciousness Beyond Us Sometimes we have moments of sensing that everything comes together as one, that nothing is separate (see also Present, Past & Future). Expanding consciousness can be experienced as something "other" coming in. And some people may want to be in touch with their personal consciousness (the physical, mental & emotional), and also consciousness beyond themselves (what some people call global consciousness or the spiritual realm of consciousness) – what's foreground & what's background. And we may be wondering or challenged by what all this means. (For details see Living To Our Full Potential).

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