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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Parenting: Outer Child and Inner Child
Parenting: Outer Child and Inner Child Listening to your child is one of the most important things you can do. Listening to their, “ga, oo, ba, ba” as babies. And listening to your teen say, “You’re so stupid, could I borrow twenty bucks?” Parenting is how you listen and then how you respond. As you…
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Marriage Tips, Easier Said than Done, Part 3; A Friend on the Path
Marriage Tips, Easier Said than Done, Part 3; A Friend on the Path Sharing life with another is magnetic, it repels and attracts. What makes it so difficult, and yet, so wonderful? As couples wonder about this question together, they become more intimate, emotionally and sexually. As they discover their own emotional life, they have…
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Therapist: Psychotherapist
Soulfulness A therapist can be a mid-wife to the soul. As families and culture get more out of balance, there is a loss of soul. The soul, for all practical purposes is the essence. Sometimes it is easier to know the soul when it is gone, the death of an animal or person. The essence…
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Relationship Counseling, The Real Work Part two: Removing Unnecessary Suffering
Relationship Counseling, The Real Work Part two: Removing Unnecessary Suffering Change happens Most relationships begin with some initial excitement and freshness. This is good and wonderful, but the mistake is trying to keep that and avoiding difficult conversations. The season of the relationship needs to change to the next and the next, for there to…
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Christian Marriage Counseling
Christian marriage counseling is based on the teachings of Jesus. We will take a most fundamental Christian principle and apply that throughout our Christian marriage counseling. For example, Jesus said, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the…
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Anxiety
What is anxiety made of? When we first feel into our anxiety, there can be an experience of shaking. Sometimes it can be experienced as a tension in the body that is very sensational. It is unavoidable in our dreams. Also, it is usually experienced as unpleasant, such as a knot in the stomach, a…
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Couples Counseling Techniques
Couples counseling techniques are simple. These are techniques that everyone needs to learn whether they are in couples counseling or not. Couples counseling techniques are guidelines toward maturity. Maturity is a balance between adult responsibility and the creativity and joy of a child. This maturity is expressed with another. But we can get out of…
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Family Therapy
Family therapy re-balances the family. Usually, in this busy world families get fragmented. Each person has their own work, school, and interests. This is all good, but it can create distance and dissatisfaction when they get out of balance. Warmth and intimacy usually diminish during this time. Family therapy works to reverse this process. Family therapy…
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Marital Counseling
Marital counseling is about finding the individuality in each person. When we can better understand our marital partner and ourselves, then the wonderful benefits of a loving relationship can be experienced.…
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Counseling
There are many types of counseling. We are going to look at psychological counseling. This would include individuals, couples, and family counseling. The foundation of counseling is based on trust. First, this trust is defined in the legal confidentiality agreement. But even more importantly is the trust between client and therapist. This is where the…
