Have you ever felt fearful of speaking up? Have you ever been afraid that all hell is going to break loose if you speak your mind or if you start talking about what’s troubling you?
You are not alone…
The inspiration of this article is my own experience through my own therapeutic process but also meeting several people who are ambivalent about going to therapy. This is totally understandable…
What happened in the story of Pandora according to Greek Mythology?
Well, do you remember the myth? It all started with Prometheus stealing the fire from the gods. Zeus seeked vengeance for this and that is why he presented Pandora to Prometheus’ brother – Epimetheus. She was apparently curious about a box (actually a jar according to the original myth) that was left to her husband’s care and she opened it although that was not advisable according to the myth. And all evils that plagued the Earth came out of that jar. She was really scared so she tried to close the jar keeping only one thing trapped – Hope.
Why this myth? How is this connected to therapy?
Well, the myth describes how curiosity was met with “bad” results. However, the true story is that we are usually keeping the “bad stuff” (what we consider negative) inside of us in this unopened box and sometimes this runs the “show” of our lives with us being unconscious of our actions and how we let these little pests run our lives. So if we were to rewrite the story, Pandora rightly opened the box to make the unconscious conscious. And if she is smart enough, she will keep the box open to let Hope (which is not unusual to find in therapy) out, too.
How about you? Are you ready to shed some light?
