Reclaiming a Space, Reclaiming the Self

2026年2月21日 2026年2月21日村上法子

村上法子

A few years ago, I began restoring my family home in Osaka.

It is a traditional post-war Japanese house with dark wooden walls. For a long time, I avoided spending time there. The space carried memories — some warm, some unresolved.

As a counselor, I often speak with clients about “unfinished emotional experiences.”
Yet I realized this house was holding some of mine.

What began as simple cleaning gradually became something deeper. As I wiped the walls and sorted through old belongings, I was also encountering emotions I had quietly set aside.

Not all memories are gentle. Some bring discomfort. Some create resistance in the body — a tightening, a pause.

In therapeutic work, we know that avoided emotions do not disappear; they remain stored, waiting to be acknowledged.

So I stayed.

Instead of turning away, I allowed myself to feel what surfaced — without rushing to make it positive. And slowly, something shifted.

The space began to feel lighter. Not because the past changed, but because my relationship to it did.

Today, that once-heavy place is becoming a counseling room, a calligraphy space for my mother, a gathering place for international students, and my small office.

I am reminded that timing often arrives when integration happens.
When we are willing to face what we once avoided, both the space and the self can breathe again☺