Among the most important of the tools I use in my psychotherapy practice are self-care contracts. They were developed over the years by several generations of therapists, starting with Jacqui Schiff (1971). The therapists use them both in their personal lives and with their clients. The contracts are: Continue reading “Struggles with Conflict”
Tag: dungeonprompts
When the Mind is Still
Many years ago, I learned from Stephen Gilligan, an Ericksonian hypnotherapist, that our bodies must have trance (i.e. altered state) experiences, and that if we do not get that trance in healthy ways such as through meditation, singing, guided imagery, gardening, drawing, etc, we will create it through unhealthy behaviors such as obsessive thinking, compulsions, and addictions.
In an altered state experience, our minds become significantly slower than in our normal state and we are much more in the moment. As humans, our most powerful insights usually occur, not when we are thinking about them, but when our minds are silent. Creativity is the same in that art, inventions, and scientific inspirations so often emerge during times of stillness.
I will share two experiences where new forms of self-expression were birthed in this way for me. Continue reading “When the Mind is Still”
Opportunity for Community May Come When You Least Expect It
When the Dungeon Prompt about Community came out the last week in January 2014, I wrote something in the comments section but since I didn’t have a blog I couldn’t post it properly. Now I have a blog!
February 1, 2014
To me, community is to be a part of something, to belong. For nearly 30 years I have been part of our therapy community. For 25 years I have been part of the Amma community. This year I have also found community in what, for me, is the unlikeliest of places. In September, I heard that our local football team, the Seattle Seahawks, were on a winning streak. In general, I have had no interest in sports of any kind. The only exceptions have been that I, on very rare occasions, have watched part of the Olympics, and a few, very few, times have watched some of the playoff games when one of our teams was doing exceptionally well. But essentially it is safe to say, I do not watch sports. Continue reading “Opportunity for Community May Come When You Least Expect It”
To Be Seen, To Be Known, To Be Close, To Belong
The Dungeon Prompt for this week is to answer the question “What does love look like?” It didn’t take me long to decide what to write about!
Throughout my teenage years, I was very involved in church activities. That changed by the time I graduated from college. The college I attended was religiously conservative. The U.S. at that time was in the throes of the civil rights and Vietnam war crises. Continue reading “To Be Seen, To Be Known, To Be Close, To Belong”
Maintaining Integrity in the Land of Secrets
There are so many way to address this week’s Dungeon Prompt about secrets. I could talk from a therapy perspective about secrets in the family of origin. I could talk about confidentiality between therapist and client. I could talk about gossip. What I decided to write comes from my own personal life and learning. Continue reading “Maintaining Integrity in the Land of Secrets”
I Will Know When I Know
This week’s “Dreaming Big” Dungeon Prompt is very timely for me, for two reasons. The night before the prompt came out, I read an article about daydreaming in the April 2014 issue of Psychology Today. Continue reading “I Will Know When I Know”
Living, Learning and Letting Go 