SECOND ARROW COUNSELING

Second Arrow Counseling is inspired by a profound teaching about resilience, self-compassion, and the ways we respond to life’s challenges. The name comes from a Buddhist parable called The Second Arrow, a story that offers a unique lens for understanding pain and suffering.

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Imagine walking through a forest when an arrow strikes you. This first arrow represents the inevitable challenges of life, such as loss, trauma, stress, or sudden hardship. Then, before you have time to recover, a second arrow hits. This second arrow symbolizes the suffering we add on top of the pain, such as self-criticism, shame, fear, or rumination. While we may not be able to prevent the first arrow, we can begin to change how we respond to it. That is where healing begins.

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Therapy reflects this teaching. Pain is part of being human. The second arrows often come from the ways we’ve learned to cope, including patterns of thinking, feeling, or reacting shaped by our past experiences. In therapy, we explore these responses with care and curiosity. We consider how they formed and whether they are still serving you today.

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For some, second arrows may show up as hypervigilance, emotional numbness, or difficulty trusting. For others, they may take the form of internalized pressure to mask your true self or the ongoing stress of living in a world that does not fully support how you think, feel, or process experiences. Whether you feel overwhelmed, misunderstood, or unsure how to move forward, therapy offers a place to reflect, process, and reconnect with your strengths and sense of self.

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Welcome to Second Arrow Counseling! A space where we don’t avoid life’s arrows but learn to face them with grace, resilience, and a deeper understanding of ourselves.