CCC 27-1_LR

PASS IT ON

SLOWING DOWN THE GAME to be an Even More Effective Counselor

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John Trent, Ph.D.

I’ll admit it… I’m slowing down a bit. I’m a “slow distance jogger”—not setting many personal bests in my three mile trundles. And, frankly, I cannot believe it has taken me so long to realize the importance of slowing down— especially for those of us who counsel, coach, and seek to build up others. I love Dr. Tim Kimmel’s book title, Little House on the Freeway: Help for the Hurried Home , which captures most of our daily experiences. That’s where my home and min istry live, and probably yours as well. So, I am not saying the goal is for all the busyness surrounding us to stop or even slow down—it certainly has not for me. If you are counseling people, you have so many plates you must keep spinning. You run a counseling practice that requires you to know and stay current on success fully operating a business. You juggle all the social media demands crucial for people to find your practice or, sadly, what they assume makes you legitimate. There are all the requirements of spinning through initial scheduling, in

take materials, first sessions, counseling plans, setbacks, breakthroughs, and proper closing sessions. After com pleting all that, you get a 20-minute break while driving home from your office and walking through the door to begin your second full-time job—where you strive to live out love and attachment with your family. Home is where you try to strengthen your faith, find time for continu ous learning, and squeeze in that slow-distance jog or exercise. I believe some factors can help with all that spinning I am beginning to learn. While playing for the Oakland Raiders (now the Las Vegas Raiders), former all-pro safe ty, Karl Joseph, said something I have heard many elite athletes say, “This year, I think the game has definitely slowed down for me. I’m understanding the little things.” 1 Things have slowed down for me, too—not on the field where chaos, change, and speed are everywhere in the NFL, but internally . I should have seen this in how often Jesus, amid chaos, noticed the “little things” in dealing

38 Christian Counseling Connection