Finding Your Voice

Often it isn’t clear what we want or why we are having difficulty making it happen. Powerful emotions or feelings often lie beneath the surface influencing us – without our awareness. So we must first connect with those feelings, be reflective about where they originated and how they are affecting our current feelings and life situations. But understanding is not enough. We have to speak back or out about those feelings – to find our voice and use it.

The movie, “The King’s Speech,” is based on the true story of King George VI of England. The DVD cover reads “Find Your Voice.” The Duke of York is the second son of his father, King George V. He stammers, a lifelong debilitating speech impediment. And it is the dawning of the world of radio, his father the first King to address “my people” in the new medium.

With the persistence of his wife she finds a man, Lionel Logue who works with persons who have speech defects. While both the Duke and his wife see this problem as a mechanical one, Lionel tries to both teach the Duke ways to lessen the tension in his throat and voice and probes deeper to learn the source of the tension which prevents the Duke from speaking clearly. The Duke is opposed to this invasion of his “private life” but he participates for a while in the “treatment.”

When his father dies and his brother abdicates the throne, the Duke of York suddenly becomes King George VI. First he must get through the coronation and soon afterward, England is at war with Germany. To lead his people, the King must now speak to them.

Lionel is not necessarily a skillful psychotherapist nor is the Duke a willing “participant.” But he is on the right track. Lionel speaks with great respect to the Duke of his courage and strength, helps him see the source of his difficulties from his early childhood and ongoing interactions with both his father and his brother. At the request of the King, Lionel coaches him through all of his speeches during the war – the King becoming a powerful inspiration to the people of England.

When the King makes his first successful speech, announcing they are at war with Germany, the King’s self-confidence is evident in his body as he walks through the applause of those around him. The support of his loving wife and daughters is powerful but it is the expert help of Lionel, the respect that Lionel speaks to “Bertie” that helps him Find His Voice.

The description on the DVD reads, “The two men forge an unlikely friendship that will ultimately empower the monarch to find his voice, inspire his people and rally the world.” 

That process is what I hope will happen with my clients in whatever way is meaningful for them.

The nature of their relationship of respect and the process of connecting with feelings and finding your voice is a process I live with my clients.