What Is Your Happiness Worth?

Are you aware that most Americans spend more on material items than they do on their individual happiness and personal relationships? In the United States, the average American spends upwards of $40,000 for a luxury automobile and approximately $5,000 for a two week family vacation. What if I told you that for far less than the cost of a car or a vacation, you can achieve individual happiness and relationship stability. nnThe truth is that individuals, couples and families experience a level of both internal and external conflict daily over their own wants and needs, the needs of their children, financial issues, sexual issues and life in general. It is when these daily conflicts become weekly and then last for a month or more, without any relief despite your best efforts that you may need to consider counseling as opposed to a drink, a drug, a vacation, new car, a sparkly bauble or a costly divorce to resolve your issues.nnCounseling and therapy have long had a reputation for being only for those who are “crazy” or “out of control”. This is simply not true. Therapy and counseling are available for people who are having individual issues, relationship issues, family issues with children, in-laws or significant others in their life, career challenges, or are dealing with experiences that happened years ago which are still affecting how they are coping with things today. Therapists are not so powerful as to be able to change the past, but they are able to help you see the past in a different way than you currently see it, with a goal of processing and putting to rest uncomfortable or negative experiences so that you can enjoy your life in a full and successful way. The role of the therapist is to facilitate your process of change, not to do the changing for you, so that in the end, you hopefully get what you wanted for far less than you would have spent for some form of external gratification. nnWhen looking for a therapist, the most important criteria to look for is whether or not the therapist is licensed; licensure implies that the person has earned a Masters degree, went through at least two years of post-graduate supervision with a licensed and state approved professional, and passed the state licensure exam. You can also check on a mental health professional’s licensure status by going to your state’s website and click onto the Licensee Look-up area of that site. It is also important that the consumer go to websites that are designated as only listing licensed professionals such as http://www.Goodtherapy.org. nnThis is clearly a field where there are as many types of therapies as there are therapists. Be sure to review the therapist’s website (if they have one) to make sure that their way of conducting therapy is what you are looking for, interview them over the phone prior to making the first appointment and don’t be shy about letting the therapist know what you are looking for in your therapy experience. Therapy is about you making a commitment to yourself to work on you and your spouse, partner, family issues. Make sure that this is a comfortable process for you and those who are important to you.nnMake a commitment to yourself to move forward and be happy – you are worth the investment.