What You Can ‘Learn’ from Your Symptom

July 21, 2018 AURELIS, AURELIS Coaching, Health & Healing, Personal Growth No Comments

People ask me this because it regularly appears in AURELIS. Actually, it’s already present within the last two letters, standing for Inner Strength.

Symptom as communication ‘from deep inside’

To the degree that your symptom is psycho-somatic – as most chronic symptoms are – it’s present because deep inside yourself, something deserves attention. Something is in need of ‘change’ from inside. One may call this ‘growth’.

For the sake of clarity, let’s agree that in this text, ‘symptom’ always refers to a psycho-somatic one.

It may be seen as a communication in the language of the ‘deeper self’ (or ‘non-conscious mental processing’). This is a pattern-based language, of which a symptom is one kind of expression.

The AURELIS choice

[Also see: ‘The ‘AURELIS Choice’]

One can use AURELIS to get rid of a symptom. With proper use, this can be done in many cases.

However, it’s not the main AURELIS endeavor. It would be a pity to ‘get rid of the symptom’ without learning from it while doing so. Thus, the endeavor lies in both: one through the other. This may eventually be most efficient and surely is also most durable.

Getting rid of the symptom just like that is cosmetic. It is not taking care of yourself as a complete person. It’s eventually your choice whether you want to do this or go further.

It’s not easy, if not downright unfeasible to go beyond cosmetics with the use of medication [see ‘Getting beyond the symptom is not easy’]. One needs, well, something like AURELIS.

So ‘what’ can be ‘learned’?

Foremost, one should not repeat Freud’s failure in trying to misrepresent the learning as conceptual. It’s human to ask for such, but it’s not realistic. This demands for a kind of basic inner strength. The domain is specifically sub-conceptual [see: ‘About ‘Subconceptual’] and what can be learned, is likewise.

Thus, it can be a feeling, a direction ‘in which something worthwhile should be further given attention to’, a sense that some life-change is bound to happen or asked for, a sense even that further coaching about this might be interesting. It may of course also be a sudden insight as for instance into what can really motivate one to reach some desired goal (more sports, less over-eating…).

In any case, taking this learning into account should make you stronger from inside. This is therefore rightly called ‘inner strength’.

Anything of this may at surface level obviously be related to the symptom, or it may not. If the symptom is given proper attention, then you can relax in that you will learn at least something, consciously or subconsciously. Don’t take my word for it. Think it over. See whether what you are reading here seems logical. Then you may also go to experiences. Try it out with an open mind.

Never abandon your common sense.

‘Hinein-interpretierung’ is a German word frequently used to admonish people to not interpret something the way one wants to, then rationalizing this interpretation until it fits. We are all susceptible to this. Therefore, never lose your common sense. If something emerges from you while giving proper attention to your symptom, see whether it fits with you as total person. If in any doubt, you may talk about it with a coach.

A good coach will mainly support your learning.

That’s what coaching is about, or should be: no symptomatic therapy but helping you to get beyond and this way to let your deeper self do the ‘healing’ (= change from inside = growth). Thus, a good coach never puts his opinion upon you. (S)he is very weary for ‘hinein-interpretierung’. A good coach makes her/himself into an instrument towards your openness, depth and freedom, in respect and trustworthiness.

OK. You recognize AURELIS again [see: ‘Five Aurelian Values’].

Can I help it?

Should I?