Category: Psychology and Relationships
These are very personal questions: What is spiritual to you? When and where do you feel spiritual? How do these spiritual feelings get blocked or expanded?
We can carry these questions throughout our lives. Spiritual practice aims to refine and deepen our understanding of them.
I will focus on three specific spiritual practices: psychological relationships, meditation, and psychedelic plant medicines, including cannabis.
Spiritual practice is about psychological relationships because if our spiritual practice doesn’t improve our relationships with others, what’s the point?
The practice of psychological relationships with others and with one’s inner life is a personal experience with spiritual meaning. This involves experiences of vulnerability, hurt, and confusion that teach us the depth of human love and kindness.
Spiritual practice is not only personal but also universal and objective. We need to look at our minds as they are, our human instincts as they are, and our relationship with the natural world. We are born, go through all the developmental stages, and then die. Life is both precious and painful. We cannot change most of life, but we can learn to connect with it gracefully, little by little.
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The Trump Phenomenon and the Suggestibility of his Followers
Psychologically, the more unconscious a person is the more suggestible they are. This means the less aware, the less mindful, the less conscious a person, the easier it is to sell them anything, especially a lie or a partial truth. We are all vulnerable to this phenomena, some more, some less. The Trump phenomenon is…
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Aversion Therapy and Learning to Overcome Bad Habits
Aversion therapy is a behavior therapy that determines patients to abandon an unwanted habit and is one of the most controversial practices in the 21st century’s psychology. Mental health professionals and the public rarely are indifferent when asked about aversive behavior therapy. Studies show promising results, but many ethics and medical specialists condone the cruel…
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The Crawley Sisters and Downton Abbey as a Cultural Dream
We can think about Downton Abbey as a cultural dream because it points to what is still unconscious for individuals, families and the larger cultural family. A dream brings attention to that which is still out of balance. For many Downton Abby by PBS, not only depicts an historical time and place,1912-1923 England, but a…
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A Psychological Perspective of Jon Snow and Game of Thrones
To look for a psychology of Jon Snow and Game of Thrones we need to hold this story as a dream or fairytale. And look to see what it may be pointing to. That way it is useful for us, as insight or guidance. When we have a dream or read an ancient fairytale there…
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Porn Addiction as Instinctual Confusion
Any addiction; porn addiction, alcohol addiction, gambling addiction, food addiction and so on, by definition has a self- destructive aspect. Gabor Mate writes on addiction: “The aching emptiness is perpetual because the substances, objects or pursuits we hope will soothe it are not what we really need. We don’t know what we need, and so…
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The Art and Science of Being Happy; A Soft Technology
“How to be happy?” is a most important question. It is a question hidden in every decision we make, from what we consume, to how we do relationships, to spiritual practices of any kind. We usually do not choose to be unhappy, even though that is often our state of being. The technology of being…
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Hypocrisy, Hope, and Return of The Shadow Personality
Hypocrisy is a curious phenomenon. It is most blatant in our political and spiritual leaders because the consequences of their behavior reach so many people. For many, the betrayal goes unseen. These leaders hold so much hope and trust in their hands. Hypocrisy Definition The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to…
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Psychotherapy, Cannabis, and CBD Oil
As a psychotherapist in California, I have had the opportunity to observe the affects of cannabis and CBD cannabis first hand in my practice. Medical marijuana has been legal here in California for 20 years. I have been able to observe it’s continuing integration as a medicine for physical, mental and spiritual health. I have…
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How to Clear Your Mind; Finding Your Way
Some ways to clear your mind are healthier than others, some longer lasting. You can clear your mind with a temporary distraction or clear it with a transformative experience. There are ways to calm down that have deeper and more lasting effects. The side effects are more positive. It can be exhausting when the mind…
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How to Rebuild Trust in Marriage: Emotional Honesty
How to rebuild trust in a marriage requires an emotional honesty that can be learned. Trust is foundational for a human beings’ development and happiness from birth through adulthood. Therefore, the opportunity to work with trust issues is profound for the growth of individuals as well as the relationship. Healing a breach of trust is…
