For New Growth
Turning the garbage of life into fertile soil for new growth.
by Faith Winters, LPC, ACS
In life we have garbage.
In this metaphor there is no landfill and no garbage pickup service. So life hands us garbage, or we go out and get garbage, or garbage is dumped on our doorstep through no fault of our own. So what should we do with it? Often we toss it into the garage and pull the door shut. There. Now that everything is out of sight, it is just fine. Another load comes, so we throw that in the garage too. We get pretty good at keeping our doorstep and driveway clear. But eventually a black, sticky, smelly mess begins to ooze out from under the garage door. It begins to affect our daily life. We walk around it, but it spreads more and more. Other people notice it. It sticks to our shoes; it gets tracked into every part of our world. So we get busy, clean up the mess and scrub down the driveway. Sometimes we need help with the driveway cleaning; sometimes we can do it by ourselves. Once the driveway is clean, things are going well again. But the sticky, smelly ooze keeps coming back, because the source is still there.
Time alone does not take care of this kind of problem.
What I do in counseling is help you clean up the driveway, and if you want, I will help you deal with the source and help clean up the garage too.
I have worked with a lot of smelly garages and I know how to help.
So what can be done with all that garbage?
It can be composted!
In gardening, composting is how you turn the refuse of life into fertile soil for new growth.
In the Garden |
In Therapy |
|
| You take old brown matter: dead leaves, decaying matter, fertilizer |
What happened in your past | |
| Add fresh green matter: fresh lawn clippings, garbage |
What is going on now, today | |
|
Make sure there is enough air circulation |
Talk about these things with a therapist | |
|
The process may generate its own heat |
There may be angry feelings to deal with | |
|
There needs to be moisture |
Perhaps a time to grieve, or cry | |
|
And sufficient turning of the pile |
Professional direction for insight | |
If this is treated in the right way, with the right mixture, the result turns that huge pile of smelly, sticky, messy garbage into a rich resource of composted soil, ready for new growth. (Done wrong, it remains a big slimy, smelly pile).
There may be a few things which cannot be composted. Toxic waste must be handled with car
e, and containerized so that it no longer has a harmful affect.
So how can I be of service to you? I am ready and willing to help you clean your garage, compost the waste, and safely containerize toxic waste for storage; all the while enabling you to develop the skills and tools necessary to handle this process on your own.
©2003 by Faith Winters. Published in www.faithwinters.com
