A counselor provides a safe place to spill out the secrets and pain - and the hopes - that have been held inside. And in that sharing, a transformation takes place:

Some people think a therapist will try to fix them,  like an auto mechanic - tinker here, adjust there, change a part - and this will feel disruptive and invasive and troubling. But if it's a good therapeutic relationship, it's not like that. Ultimately you do get healed, but in the places you need to be and in a way that feels right. It's comforting and it's a relief.

In a strong therapeutic relationship, a special kind of magic takes place. Feelings are reclaimed, ancient hurts resolve, lives are re-envisioned, and the future opens up with possibility. Therapy can be a powerful vehicle for change.

- The Courage to Heal, Ellen Bass & Laura Davis

And in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make

- The Beatles, British rock and roll band

Expecting life to bring us what we want
and to deliver us from what we do not want
is to suffer needlessly.
Finding that we are adequate
for everything that happens
is to be at peace.

Preferring some things
and avoiding others,
we struggle through life.
Sitting quietly and breathing deeply,
we find renewal within ourselves.
Sitting quietly with another one
we watch her find renewal
within herself.

- The Caregiver's Tao Te Ching