By Rhegina Sinozich - If you really want to help people open a doorway to a different way in life, therapy needs to give them powerful experiences---positive ones. Low-energy encounters with a therapist just don’t make enough of an impact to create real change. I've learned that the most powerful and effective way to get therapy off on the right note is to help clients access the power of the hope and openheartedness that’s embedded in childhood.

Helping clients directly taste the kind of spontaneity, freedom, and untethered happiness that’s often left behind in early childhood, while not in itself offering an instant cure, can become a powerful beacon illuminating the path toward healing. As a result, I've developed ways of helping clients access intense memories of positive childhood experiences that can jump-start the therapy process.

To create deep change, we need to help people mine the sources of intense pleasure in their lives, wherever they may find them.