In her classic children's book, The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams has the skin horse to say, "Once you're real, you can never be unreal again."
What a powerful description of what it means to take off our masks, drop our labels, prejudices, denials, and defenses. Far too often, in order to dodge disapproval, we squelch our true opinions; due to the fear of rejection, we silence our beliefs; to avoid confrontation, we sacrifice our personal truth.
In so doing, we accept the slavery of unreal living in order to avert rejection and disapproval. But living that isn't real, isn't living at all.
One of the great satisfactions of being a therapist, comes through seeing people set aside the bondage of masks, labels, and defenses and emerge as real, never to be unreal again.
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Hilton Head 2009
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About Me
- Don Doyle, DMin, PhD
- Since 1966, I have functioned in some official capacity as a psychotherapist, minister, or counselor. In that period of time, I have logged more than 50,000 hours of listening to people from forty-two states and eighteen foreign countries. In addition, I was in the pastoral ministry for thirteen years, ten of which was spent in one church. Prior to entering the ministry, I served as a Naval Aviation Officer. I joined the Navy to see the world and spent three years in Florida! Nonetheless, those three years were invaluable to me personally and professionally. The value of my military experience was equal to a post-graduate degree. In addition to my work as a psychotherapist, I enjoy conducting seminars, conferences, and key-note addresses to corporations, civic groups, churches, and counseling centers. For eight years, I was Associate Director of the Burlingame (California) Counseling Center. Since 1987, I have directed the Doyle Family Counseling Center in Memphis, Tennessee.
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