Rosie
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Kat, I love your metaphor of the path. It’s helpful to think of having walked the path oneself, yet it being new and different for each person who walks it, and that part of our job is to keep coming back to the path.
When I think about path as metaphor, I also think of labyrinths – it’s a path, and it’s definitely leading toward the center, but not at all in an obvious way.And we just have to stay on the path, and notice our discomfort and/or wonder and/or curiosity.As a psychotherapist, this is something that I think about and practice every day. And I see a lot of overlap with offering meditation instruction.
For me, supporting discovery includes creating an environment, a safe place, an opportunity, for someone to investigate what is true for them.
The most important skill is patient/present listening. I’ve cultivated this skill by framing it as “listening meditation” – noticing when my thoughts about what I’m hearing are distracting, and coming back to listening to the other person.
Other important skills are curiosity and non-judgment. I cultivate this by practicing Beginner’s Mind – remembering/reminding myself that I don’t know what’s true for them, only they know.
And then there’s learning to ask questions rather than giving advice. And learning to ask those questions in an open, curious way that doesn’t imply what the “right” answer is, or even that there is a right answer. And that’s easier when there is genuine respect for the other.