“In order to facilitate moving forward, how well do I have to remember the content of a session?”
Julie writes:
Hi Ann, often after Focusing I write down what happened during the session. I know that’s helpful, but I am curious about how essential it is. In other words, in order to facilitate moving forward how well do I have to remember – and process – the content of a session? Doesn’t a lot of it happen simply in the Focusing process itself?
Dear Julie:
Absolutely right, the change we get from Focusing happens in the Focusing process itself. (Although you may not notice some of the results until later.)
And yet…it can also be helpful to take notes after a Focusing session on what happened in the session.
It often depends on whether you are working with an issue that is complex and has several parts or aspects.
If I find I am ending a Focusing session wanting to remember to come back to some aspect of it later, that is a good reason to write some of it down. Then, before the next session, I can re-read what I wrote and sense whether something there still feels like a good starting place.
I won’t be able to get back the same felt sense, but I can invite a part of me that didn’t get a chance to be heard.
For example, if I spent one Focusing session sensing and listening to a part of me that is scared to be spontaneous, then in the next session I could invite a part of me that loves being spontaneous.
And that’s just one example of the kind of thing one might write down after a Focusing session. You might also write down powerful, moving images or memorable insights. If you like, you can keep these notes in a notebook or journal.
Writing after a session, though it can enhance the experience, is not essential. The change itself has already happened, whether you remember it or not.
