Spirituality, Therapy, and the Good Life

Deena Mezger observed, “a good question is a great gift… a good question can change your life…” All too often we avoid really important questions when they feel too difficult to answer or too threatening to face.

Mary-Jane Rust in “Creating Psychotherapy for a Sustainable Future” asks psychotherapists the following question, ” how does psychotherapy need to change, theoretically and in practice, in the service of creating a sustainable future? This is complex, for it ranges from how cultural and global affairs affect and shape our internal and external worlds, to how we feel about being part of the very consumer culture which is causing this crisis, to how we conceive of, and connect with, nature, culture and the larger whole, to how our long, slow, deep process of change might contribute to the creation of sustainability, and more.”

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http://www.youtube.com/v/g3VrggQW7tk&hl=en&fs=1

Deena Mezger observed, “a good question is a great gift… a good question can change your life…” What important question have you been avoiding answering?

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With so much information regarding Swine Flu available on the internet, it’s easy to obtain a significant amount of misinformation. The Maine Center for Disease Control offers daily updates
regarding diagnosed cases, prevention strategies, and treatment. There is also a general public call in number, 1-888-257-0990 or 207-629-5751.

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I saw theologian and author Matthew Fox in Portland yesterday. I had read/heard much of what he shared in other lectures and books he’s previously written but it is always wonderful to be reminded of what feels wise and whole and true. Among the thoughts that he shared which resonated with me were:

Suffering is initiation into our deeper creativity…

The definition of courage is comprised of two French words meaning “wise heart.”

To overcome our fear it’s helpful to connect with what we love and cherish.

Our culture fails to appreciate the value of the void, we’re always trying to fill it up.

Wisdom brings heart and mind together.

Men have to recover their warrior nature (huge difference between warrior and soldier.)

Christ, Gandhi, King were all warriors.

The warrior is a lover and a mystic.

“Don’t give a loaded gun to young men who have not yet learned to dance.”

The love of death (necrophilia) grows when the love of life (biophilia) is stunted.

Wildness is the wellspring of creativity

Clarissa Pinkola Estes asserts that creativity (and the wild woman) lives in the gut and not in the head

The love of life and the grief of life give birth to creativity

The first level of grief is anger

Our universe is totally committed to birthing and creativity

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I saw theologian and author Matthew Fox in Portland yesterday. I had read/heard much of what he shared in other lectures and books he’s previously written but it is always wonderful to be reminded of what feels wise and whole and true. Among the thoughts that he shared which resonated with me were:

Suffering is initiation into our deeper creativity…

The definition of courage is comprised of two French words meaning “wise heart.”

To overcome our fear it’s helpful to connect with what we love and cherish.

Our culture fails to appreciate the value of the void, we’re always trying to fill it up.

Wisdom brings heart and mind together.

Men have to recover their warrior nature (huge difference between warrior and soldier.)

Christ, Gandhi, King were all warriors.

The warrior is a lover and a mystic.

“Don’t give a loaded gun to young men who have not yet learned to dance.”

The love of death (necrophilia) grows when the love of life (biophilia) is stunted.

Wildness is the wellspring of creativity

Clarissa Pinkola Estes asserts that creativity (and the wild woman) lives in the gut and not in the head

The love of life and the grief of life give birth to creativity

The first level of grief is anger

Our universe is completely committed to birthing and creativity

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Mental Health America recently published Live Your Life Well, a website designed to assist visitors to more effectively cope with stress and create a more satisfying life by providing 10 research based tools that promote well being and facilitate resiliency. You can also sign up for their free monthly living well email list.

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I frequently encourage my clients to walk, and sometimes I invite them to walk with me during our session. Frank MacEowen in “The Mist Filled Path” describes walking as “a poetic and sensual experience … a spiritual act… an art form, a dynamic communion with the landscape… a special time to connect with another person…”

MacEowen quotes Soren Kierkegard who cautioned, “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness that would have me; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thoughts so burdensome that one cannot ‘walk’ way from it.”

Walking on a regular basis is therapeutic on a number of levels. It releases endorphins (the ‘feel good’ chemicals in your brain, and natural pain killers), reduces risk factors related to obesity, hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, improves mood and relieves stress.

Following are some helpful links:

Walking in Nature to Promote the Health of the Mind, Body and Spirit

Healthy Maine Walks

Best Walking in Maine

Lewiston/Auburn Trails

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In “Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations” Frederick Buechner writes, “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and in the pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch and taste your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”
How might our lives be different if we held them lovingly, recognizing each moment as sacred, each life a precious gift…

You can listen to an interview with him entitled, “the stewardship of pain” here.

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In preparing for this coming Sunday’s event here at SagePlace, “Honoring the Sacred in Nature: Honoring the Sacred in Ourselves,” I came across a book filled with wisdom and beautiful imagery entitled, “By Monomoy Light” written by North T. Cairn. In it she wrote,

” I have spent most of my life exploring the hinterlands of the hidden self, and when the time was right, I made the north – the mythological direction governing birth and death; the body and nature; growth, creativity and silence – my own.”

She also wrote, “Still, the last decade of the millennium was more for me the beginning of ten years of wandering in a small wilderness, and it would change me for good. It is not that I found myself in the sparse wilderness of Monomoy, but rather that I lost myself there, in the intricate elegance and uncompromising energy of nature.”

For me, Maine fits her description of the North perfectly and offers us opportunities to be both lost and found.

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WebMD has a very good slideshow available online that offers an overview of Depression including its symptoms, impact on daily life, whose at risk, causes, diagnosis, and treatment. You can view it here.

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