We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Loris Simon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Loris below.
Loris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
For most of my adult life, I have had a serious interest in what happens when people take risks. We have all faced moments where maintaining the status quo implies stagnation, a kind of internal death. Change, on the other hand, points to complete uncertainty and potential failure. Moreover, failure means that we end up worse than where started. It is a double bind. Even though it is a known fact that it takes courage to make a change, we rarely speak about other qualities that also take important roles, such as acceptance, humility and trust.
Coming from a background in counseling, my wording around the concept of “risk” has taken a different angle. I think of taking a risk as a leap into the unknown, as transformation, as alchemy. It is not just about making a list of pros and cons and moving forward. A true risk transforms the person you are, no matter what the outcome is. It is not about succeeding as much as it is acknowledging a part of you has run its course. By the time you manifest the intended risk, something has already happened inside of you that has shaken the very grounds you stand on. Something outside of your comfort zone has creeped in and threatened everything you believe about who you are. It is disorienting and exciting simultaneously. It brings in a flow of cautious hope. Yet most of all, it is terrifying.
I have taken many big risks, but the one that stands out to me at this point in my life is the making of my feature documentary, Ensoulment. This came at a time when I finishing my undergraduate program in psychology. I did not know what to do next. All I knew is what I did not want: I did not want to work in a starting position and I did not want to go back to school. I wanted more. I wanted something I could call my own. Knowing this simple, abstract thought was enough to keep me unsettled with anything else. Something in me had already shifted.
I remember laying in my bed one night overcome by fear. I defied the conventional path of moving into graduate school or getting a job. I had no immediate point of reference as to whether my decision to make a film would be a fruitful one or not. I leaped into the dark and I had no clue where I was going to land. I dared to leave the “predictable psychology student” identity and move into “filmmaker.” How dare I? I thought. I was discovering the path as I went, shaking in doubt with every step. I had the hope it would turn into something I could later look at and feel proud of; yet I yearned certainty. I yearned for the slightest bit of evidence that signaled I was doing something worthwhile.
It easy to speak of those two years of my life in retrospect knowing it all turned out fine. However, I will never forget the little things, like formulating competent responses to my acquaintances’ curiosity, “Congrats on graduating! What are you going to do now?” “What’s next for you?” I could almost read the facial expressions on their faces when I explained my project. They all carried slight disappointment and skepticism. Those are the two years where I learned about professional solitude. Chasing after a vision only you can see is a lonely journey.
Ensoulment: A Diverse Analysis of the Feminine in Western Culture was released in 2013. It is part live action, part animation: a rather accurate resemblance of my own inner life. It screened internationally in film festivals, universities, cultural centers and other educational organizations. It was also the recipient of multiple awards, one of them being the Gand Jury Prize of the Barcelona International Film Festival in 2014. Later in 2016, I published an anthology with Chiron Publications of the complete transcripts from the film with additional interviews and personal statements that let the reader enter behind the curtains.
Even though this was about 10 years ago, it has not been the last risk I ever took. Not in my professional life, not in my personal life, not in my spiritual life. I continue to feel the same level of fear each time. On each occasion, I don’t know what’s on the other side. Perhaps the acceptance comes easier with experience, that knowing that it is time to move in a different direction. I keep my humility on the side because the ride is never shiny the whole way through. What I hold at my core and heavily rely on is trust. More so than courage, trust is the very element that always gets me to the other side.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am a psychotherapist in private practice in Houston, TX. I focus on men’s issues, specifically life transitions that bring in deep moments of transformation, a kind of quarter crisis or mid life crisis. My training is in Jungian studies, placing a strong enphasis on the journey towards wholeness by bringing the diverse facets of the Self into conscious awareness. Unlike our conscious mind, the terrain of the unconscious operates beyond the realms of reason and practicality. To connect with this intricate aspect of ourselves, we rely on alternative modes of communication, including art, metaphor, narrative, and more. I am fully trained in sandtray therapy and find myself completing certification for dream tending. As an immigrant from Mexico City with Lebanese roots, diversity is ingrained in my everyday life. I fully understand the weight of carrying more than one home. There is something to be said about honoring our roots without losing sight of our branches.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I’m in the field of mental health counseling. One of the most helpful elements in this field is doing your own work. Even though there is so much to be said about schooling and clinical literature, there is nothing that gives you a sense of embodied knowing like doing your own therapy. Working through your own obstacles and discomforts. There is something to be said about a person who is willing to go into the darkest parts of him/herself and explore despite the consequences. This is the type of counselor I look for and this is the type of counselor I strive to be.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
I think I answered a few of these questions in my first lengthy response!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lorissimon.com
- Instagram: @lorisensoulment
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnsoulmentFilm
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorissimon/
Image Credits
Loris Simon