During the first lockdown I spent an enormous amount of time walking as all the gyms were closed. Exercise has always been a large part of my life. It was a soulful and filling experience as, in the silence and in amongst nature, I was able to reflect quietly on topics that so often emerge in my therapy room.
During the summer months I invested in a bike and my journey exploring the further parts of London began. Again, I was able to touch a quiet part of myself that started to consider putting my thoughts to paper. Having not really ‘achieved’ academically at school, I had to move through all sorts of messages that were telling me that ‘I was not good enough’. ‘I didn’t really have anything to say’ and that it was ‘best that I continue to do what I have done throughout my life, which is to let other people speak and as they do, fade quietly into the background’.
This book doesn’t really say anything new or different to many similar books. What is has are my reflections, as each word was considered, and each thought carrying the utmost respect for those who have sat with me and shared their stories.
I hadn’t really considered that my essays would go anywhere really or that they would become public, but I was approached after a few of my essays had been read to take on the challenge of writing a book. Challenges of a physical nature have always been something I have risen to. I am an endurance person at heart and have completed many amazing endurance treks, which include walking to the North Pole, climbing a few mountains and training as a Genghis Khan Warrior in Mongolia, to name a few. Challenging myself so publicly at an intellectual level saw me have to dig deep and practise what I so often say to my clients about choosing how we want to live, think, be.
So I made a choice to take my courage in my hands, take a deep breath and trust that I need not be perfect, nor did it matter if others didn’t see value in my words. It has been terrifying, but more importantly, a lived in experience of how we have the possibility to move the metaphorical mountains that we carry with us from our past about who were are or should be.
I am shy when it comes to self promotion so share with you a few words written by my publisher :-
‘As waves of Covid Variants sweep across the globe, testing our souls and dampening our spirits, piggy backing upon the other challenges in our lives, enter in the Essays of Juliette Clancy, to give us a small island of true decency and heart. Thoughts from the Couch wraps its arms around the reader and gives them hope – in sharing with others – for a way forward.
As publisher of books in the field of Gestalt therapy, I also edit a Newsletter, Gestalt News and Notes which goes out to over 6000 interested Mental Health practitioners all over the world. Contributions, in the form of short essays began to appear in our “InBox”, they were received with enthusiasm and welcome in our Covid times, and by the fifth one they pointed their way to a deeply cherish-able little book.
I say “little,” Thoughts is indeed large in scope and wonderment, but because it is of a friendly size, small enough to tuck in your bag or pocket, to be brought out and read any time, any place.
Like her worldwide explorations, which informs her work as a therapist, in these essays, Juliette dove bravely into a world of publishing, formerly unknown to her, and was co-contributor and book artist from start to finish.
The world of counselling and mental health and love of books, thanks Juliette Clancy for her work, for words softly spoken, for nerves of gold and for a book one is reluctant to put down.’
If you feel drawn to purchase it I hope you enjoy.