Taking Up Space
Three very elderly people walk by and they are talking about a man they knew. “He died young” someone comments. I smile, thinking of the perspective they hold. Was he 40, 50, more likely 60 or even 70. They slowly move away, taking space like only older groups of people moving in mass can. Shifting perspectives, slowing things down, these are aids in the therapy relationship. What is old becomes young, what was trauma becomes growth, chaos shifts to creativity. We each learn to take up space, and that space changes, grows and shrinks, slows and ends. As a therapist, I observe these changes, and nudge them along too.