The Impeded Stream

Poet, activist, and farmer, Wendell Berry, helps reframe discomfort and disillusionment in his poem Our Real Work:

It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.

Berry’s words remind us that it’s often life’s disruptions that get our attention and challenge us to take responsibility for the direction we will go. While this can create anxiety, if we embrace the challenge it can also lead to a greater sense of authenticity and agency. Perhaps you’re at a point in life where the direction you thought you were going is cut off or the way forward is unclear. Perhaps you’re in a rocky, tumultuous season that has you longing for still waters. Perhaps you just feel dry and exhausted altogether. If your life is a stream, therapy is a place where we explore the source, the terrain you have to navigate, and the destination you’re trying to get to. We can employ the mind (and the body) to do “our real work”.