“The mind is its own place and, in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”

The mind uses language, words, internal dialogue and mental pictures to form its “reality.” Psychotherapy, especially talk therapy,  relies very heavily on language and words. But, general communication and relationship does as well.

Words are not the only medium of communication. What is typically referred to as non-verbal communication is actually visual communication and a great deal of the messages we send, and receive, are visual, not verbal. Visual communication is quite potent. A bold gesture with one finger can cause a person to become infuriated. A shy smile can make a person happy. A single  image is worth a thousand verbalizations….

Words, as symbols, both visual and auditorial (i.e., the written word and the spoken word),  and purely visual images, such as a photograph, a painting, or even one’s own imagination, have noticeable influence  on  thoughts, moods, feelings and behaviors. But, more interesting is how psyche, how the mind, translates  images and words into meanings . For it is that process by which psyche  becomes the captain of her own domain and can choose to view a glass as half empty, or half full……