In 2010 I left a full time job in the corporate sector to join a one year program in counselling from Parivathan, a counselling, training and research institute. The reason I did that was because I had reached a period in life when I was wondering about myself. Who is the real me in the drama of life? Was I doing the things that I was meant to be doing or was I doing what I thought were the right things to do. I felt that I had become mechanical and that I needed to stop, look and then go!

The program itself was intensive and challenging with full dal classes on weekends, identifying clients, sessions with our clients, transcriptions and supervisions. As a student I was also required to be in counselling once a week for the entire duration and that was no easy piece. All the time during classes, during sessions and when in counselling, some space from the past would creep up and I wanted to and was letting go of a piece of me. When I let something go I wondered if I needed to fill the gap. For example if I stopped being anxious then how do I feel? Empty?

The process is long and its not that there are immediate changes, the changes in my thoughts – feelings – behaviour happened over a period of 2 – 3 years. They however were for the better, the unwanted thoughts-feelings-behaviour were replaced by appropriate ones and my life had a purpose and I more confident.

So being in counselling has been life changing for me. My learning is that life is meant to be lived by the day, by the season, by the situation and adapting to the day, the season and the situation. As the theme suggests, I and a classmate of mine observed towards the end of our course that the tree hugging the balcony of the institute, is indeed a teacher for us. We joined in July when the leaves were lush green and they danced in the rain, when the autumn and the cold came the leaves browned as they dried, they tore and shed, in preparation for a new beginning in spring, the new leaves came, giving the tree a new lease of life.