Gaelen Billingsley LMFT
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You are going to be ok!

Appeasing the Communications Fairies

11/12/2015

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Good day to you, applied behavioral science consumers! A number of you whose emails have bounced have wondered how it can still be true, after almost two weeks since the server change, that I continue to have no working email at gaelenbillingsley.com. This course of events is not just mysterious to me. It is mysterious to my talented inter-webs advisors. Thus far, the most useful thing I have learned in my search for answers is that the tech- help departments of all three of the companies involved are not very helpful. I could blow a gasket, but instead I am going to model good mental hygiene by trying to lighten up the mood under this cloud of corporate technocratic oppression.

I have been soliciting quotes about my work from former clients to use on the new site, and on the back of The Marble Game. I thought I might share some of the highlights. You may enjoy them, and perhaps if the inter-web fairies enjoy them, they might cut me a break!

Enjoy:

"Gaelen Billingsley is the best motherfucking therapist ever. And she keeps chickens, sometimes even in her office! She's queer as a three dollar bill and wears funky jewelry and chunky shoes. And, she has a good sense of humor."

"Gaelen Billingsley is the best high priestess woo woo witch-urban shaman, disguised as a therapist, with a wicked sense of humor you could ever hire. She also makes a mean bowl of soup."

"Gaelen is one of the few real Astronauts in the behavioral science spaceship full of chattering monkeys."

When you feel stuck, and life has handed you a situation that fills you with a sense of helplessness, sometimes all you can do is shift your attention to something else that doesn't hurt so much! It is never a bad idea to do that. At worst, it gives you a chance to get a rest from the grinding stress, and maybe recharge your batteries a bit. At best it can create an opportunity for you to see the situation with a fresh perspective, and new ideas!
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The Marble Game is on its way!

10/25/2015

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Welcome to the new website! While there was nothing particularly wrong with the old website, I will shortly come out with a book. So, I thought it was time for an update! This website features a blogging option, a prospect which I find sort of exhilarating!

 


The upcoming book will be titled The Marble Game: Therapeutic Metaphors for Life. I wrote it because after a few years of doing this work, I noticed that the problems people were bringing to me felt singularly overwhelming and complicated to them, but in actuality, most new clients were seeking answers to the same few simple human questions:

1) Who am I and why do I feel so crazy*?
 
2) Who is that other person I thought I knew, and why is s/he driving me so crazy?
 
3) Why do I keep doing the crazy stuff I do, even though I want to change?!
 
4) In the face of all of all my flaws how do I become the person I want to be?
 
5) How do I get that other person over there to be and do what I want?
 
6) Why does life/God/the universe either a) seem so crazy that the way the world works makes no sense, or b) hate me personally so much that I get punished again and again no matter how hard I try?
 
7) Why bother to ever do anything? What is the point?
 
Over time, I found I was creating metaphors and parables to translate seemingly complicated human behaviors and patterns into simple and practical concepts that my clients could use to feel empowered and create change in their own lives. When people were able to see the problems and solutions more clearly, therapy became a more efficient use of time and money. I often joke with my clients about the fundamental irony of being a psychotherapist, i.e. I am in the business of trying to put myself out of business! It’s true though. I want you to get free of all the unconscious baggage that weighs you down and keeps you from being your finest self -- from living your most excellent life. I want you to acquire an adventurous sense that there might be a lot to know about you that you don’t already know. And even though it could seem scary and dangerous to learn about yourself, until you see yourself clearly, you will never be free to be the author of your self, your life, and your own destiny. That’s what The Marble Game is about. I will let you know as soon as I have a release date!
 
* Word definition - “Crazy”: Giving the appearance of making no sense. Some of my colleagues may take issue with my use of the word “crazy”, because “crazy” has become a pejorative judgment-word used to oppress the mentally ill. I use “crazy” because my clients use it. They use it a lot. They fear it. It has power over them. It has been used against them. They use it against other people. “Crazy” is the cardinal sin of the mechanized industrial world. I am out to reclaim and normalize it. People make sense. If you get to know anyone well enough, and you get inside the unique cocktail of each person’s brain structure, and genes, life experience, and chemistry, people make sense. But we are all “crazy,” in that we all look to others as if we don’t make sense, at least some of the time.
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    Author

    Seattle psychotherapist and author, Gaelen Billingsley LMFT, has been in private practice since 2003. Her idea of fun is translating concepts from applied behavioral science into tools that regular folks can apply to their own lives. When she is not speaking naked truths, as compassionately as possible, she can be found flinging dirt around the garden.

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