I advocate for all my friends to go to counseling.  Whether they think they need it or not, they do.  How can I be so sure?  Call it a hunch.  Or experience.

I love going to counseling.  I have used three and all of them have added beauty to my life.  They are all believers and all care deeply about me.  It is evident in their words, in their eyes and in their prayers over me.

One reason I think I appreciate counseling as much as I do and encourage my friends to go is because I am a counselor at heart.  I have taken many assessments of personality type in the past few years.  Myers-Brigg, DiSC and Strengthfinder and all come back with two words always consistent in my description.  Teacher.  Counselor.

For years, I thought of myself as a businessman.  An accountant.  An IT guy.  An Ops guy.  Today, I am learning to think of myself in a natural state – teacher and counselor.  Now, being a teacher doesn’t mean I have to be in a classroom.  The world is my classroom.  I can teach whomever will listen.  Being a counselor doesn’t mean I have to be in an office with scheduled hours.  I can be a counselor to anyone who is willing to talk to me.  All of that can happen in a business as well as the grocery store, at church, or in a parking lot.

The joy of learning more about who I am is that it frees me to be me and not try to squish myself into a mold someone else wants me to be.

I’m working on a new vision statement for me.  I am a teacher and counselor who, at heart, wants to be a peacemaker and difference-maker in the lives of others.  It’s a work in progress and a starting point.

I look forward to seeing the path God will lead me down more clearly in the days to come.

Grace and peace.