Symbol work - working with the inner images

It is a very primal human behavior in us to have inner images or to imagine something within our lives and especially in the conflict resolution processes that go with it.

There is immense power in the images that arise in us, that are inherent in us and those that are practically brought to us. These visible, felt or heard images help us to process what we have experienced and offer us opportunities for development.

By working with images, by visualizing these inner images, we help our psyche to integrate quasi-unconscious parts/images into our consciousness. A section of one's own psyche is gently brought to light through the process of becoming conscious of this image and the symbolic depiction through objects. 

The picture that shows itself to us represents a momentary inner reality and by making this externally visible through objects, we can relate to the resulting picture and let it work and deal with it. It has a retroactive effect and allows us to immerse ourselves in our inner soul.

If we assume that people act from inner images, it is all the more important that we take the time and leisure to let our inner images arise and perceive them. Inner images carry great potential for development and change. Inner images carry great energy potential in the positive as well as in the negative sense. Negative images triggered by disturbances and change impulses brought in from outside often lead to us remaining in old ways and patterns and leave us immobile. In a positive sense, they offer us movement, change, orientation and clarity, open up creative processes and promote motivation. 

  In his book The Power of Inner Pictures, Gerald Hueter writes, “We need these pictures in order to plan actions, accept challenges and react to threats. The more complete and far-reaching the perception channels are, through which the brain obtains its information from the outside world, the more 'true' the inner images of the outside world that arise in the brain. The more precisely the inner images are perceived and become conscious, the more far-sighted one can look for solutions to threats before they have even reached the organism.”    

The work with symbols...

... accelerates the building of trust and clarity in thinking

... enables new ways of looking at one's own self and processing information

... clarifies in the case of realignments

... opens a process of new personal insights/perspectives and understanding

... promotes and supports communication

... connects the right and left hemispheres of the brain in cognitive processes

… supports the change processes in our thinking, feeling and behavioral patterns

... gives rise to new impulses/ideas

... offer anchor and support

… helps people to “see” their own situation

... enables a different form of processing, beyond the spoken word