When Your Friend is a Therapist
Diane Smith is one of my dearest friends—for more than 30 years—and she is also a licensed marriage and family therapist. This means that today’s episode is me in a perfectly secure relationship asking the questions I’ve always wanted to ask—of a therapist that is. But first, we’ll get to know Diane a little better. When did she know this was a passion she would pursue and how did she choose the EFT (Emotionally Focused Therapy) model as the framework for her counseling? What is EFT anyway and why is attachment theory so integral to it.
Trust me, just listening to Diane will slow your breathing and calm your heart. The only thing that was missing in our conversation was the herbal tea.
This image is as close as I could find to what Diane described as an illustration of complete and total trust in a situation.
Photo by Millicent Leandra on Unsplash
Some of my personal take aways:
1. A healthy and high functioning emotional navigation system must be learned and practiced in a safe environment before it can be applied to relationships in our lives. This is why a secure attachment is so important for children and teens.
2. Change is actually the foundation for emotional resiliency and curiosity is the secret passageway to accessing the tools you need to build on it.
3. FAIL stands for First Attempt In Learning—Yes! I wish someone would have explained that to me in Jr. High 😜
4. I am now listening to Dale Carnegie wisdom in the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age because Diane loves it so much!
Finally, the idea of asking yourself, “Do I have enough of what I want in my life?” Especially as you question whether therapy might be a solution for you—can you create what you need? If not, celebrate the fact that there are therapists, like Diane who are trained to help you.
What a blessing!
Learn more about Diane Smith on Psychology Today.
Just three weeks ago, my husband and I escaped for a weekend in St. George with the Smiths. While the boys golfed, we sat outside talking and eating our yogurt parfaits. It was perfect!
I opened the episode with A Walk in The Forest by composer, Brian Crain, from his album, A Simple Life.
Brian’s music has been my Relax & Unwind playlist for so many years. You can stream it on Amazon.
