The Story Behind Threshold Counseling
What began as a quiet moment of reflection became a deeper inquiry into self-compassion, healing, and our capacity to receive nourishment even when we feel undeserving of it. The story behind Threshold Counseling continues to shape the way I understand therapy and the work of moving toward a more trusting relationship with ourselves.
During a difficult transition in my life I was sitting at my kitchen table, reflecting on hardship and the concept of worthiness. I looked out the window and noticed a gentle sprinkle of rain. In the Sonoran Desert, where some years we receive only three inches of water, a gentle summer rain is unusual.
A voice inside me asked, Does the plant deserve the rain?
We live in one of the harshest climates on Earth. Yet, the saguaro expands its ribs to hold the monsoon. Ocotillo go dormant in the dry season so they can preserve themselves for times of abundance. Though they experience hardship, they persist. The plant doesn’t stop to ask, Do I deserve this? So where did we learn to question the abundance in our lives?
The Threshold
Rumi describes a place "beyond the ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing" where "ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn't make any sense."
This is the threshold.
In this place, we step outside of the judgments we carry, the expectations we feel from others, and the ego’s measure of “deserving.” Instead, we experience an inner wisdom that speaks without words, that carries a knowingness guiding us through hardship toward healing, growth, and an innate ability to accept nourishment from our lives.
This is the foundation of my work as a therapist, and the origin of Threshold Counseling. Many of the people I work with have spent years questioning their worth, doubting themselves, or feeling disconnected from who they are after trauma, loss, difficult relationships, burnout, or major life transitions. The belief that we must earn healing, belonging, or rest often runs deep.
Therapy offers an opportunity to step beyond those judgments and reconnect with a wiser, more compassionate relationship with ourselves. In that space, we can begin to hear what has been buried beneath self-doubt, shame, fear, and expectation. We can learn to trust our own experience and move toward lives that feel more authentic and aligned with who we are.
My own journey has taught me that we each deserve self-compassion, freedom, and a connection with that voice we all carry but don’t always hear.
We all deserve the rain.
If this story resonates with you, Threshold Counseling may offer a space to explore your own questions about healing, self-trust, and meaningful change.
