I spent yesterday helping my friend brew a beer for my upcoming birthday. I’ve helped out on a number of different brew days and I always enjoy the contrast of the very physical work to my normal work day which involves a lot of sitting. The brew yesterday was only the second to be done using some new kit, this meant that there is still learning to be done on the most efficient ways to both use and clean it. As we brewed my friend explained how the new kit worked and the benefits of it over the old kit and I asked lots of questions as I tried to understand and build on my patchy knowledge of beer making.
Despite the quite different setting, I found that, I ended up using many of the same skills as I would with my clients. Exploring how things are (the new equipment in the brewery), how we would like them to be (the beer we hoped to make) and figuring out how to get there (the plan for the days brew). In this process we explored past events that shaped the present (previous brew days and beers we liked) which led to an understanding of what we were doing in the present and how we might make changes to get to where we wanted to. By drawing on the previous experience of making my last birthday beer we realised we could make a second beer with minimal additional effort. This wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t been open to changing our plan for the day based on our conversations and I hadn’t been asking questions and making observations.
As we cleaned up, we talked about the value of having someone who doesn’t have any preconceptions to talk things through with. In explaining things to another person, we can clarify our thoughts to ourselves. This can help us to be more confident ourselves and our choices. It can also help us to shift some of our thinking to allow for new possibilities. While counselling won’t necessarily result in a double yield of delicious stout, it can bring other (sometimes unexpected) benefits, just from having a space and time to talk things through, particularly in times of change and transition.
Which areas of your life would benefit from a different perspective?
