Spiritually Informed Psychotherapy

LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THE WAYS SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY HEALS OUR SOULS:

Forgiveness of Self

Those who have suffered from abuse, neglect and toxic criticism and rejection from parental figures have a strong tendency to be rejecting and critical of themselves. It is important to learn to recognize and protect ourselves from these internalized critical voices. We can begin to let go of the habits of self criticism and self rejection that we learned unconsciously in our childhoods. We begin to forgive ourselves for the judgments we have made against ourselves. We begin to have a new and more loving relationship with ourselves.

 Self Compassion & Self Acceptance

Because of these negative attitudes towards ourselves that we took in in childhood, it is very helpful to relearn how to relate to ourselves from a place of empathy and compassion rather than self criticism and rejection. After many years of not being kind and accepting of ourselves, we gradually learn how to become our own best friend. This is very much a heart centered endeavor!

 Fostering Self Nurturance

Because our care givers were poor at caring for all our needs, physical, emotional and spiritual, they didn’t model for us how to do this for ourselves. Now we need to learn how to provide for our basic needs for safety, shelter, sleep, food, and how to have healthier behaviors around work, relationships, sex, money, power, media, etc. Self nurturance is a very concrete way that we show ourselves that we care for ourselves.

 Working with Unhealthy Addictive and Compulsive patterns

Many of us in growing up adopted unhealthy patterns of reactive, addictive and compulsive behaviors that we believed would protect us from ever being hurt again. However, what this does now is to shut us off from the healing we so long for. Gradually we release these patterns and find our way to a more healthy lifestyle – and a healthier relationship with ourselves and our Higher Power.

 Inner Child Work

As we release our addictions and compulsions, we are more and more in touch with our original wounds from childhood. We learn to have a more accepting and compassionate relationship with these wounded parts of ourselves. We gradually come to have a more consistent loving and nurturing relationship with these rather emotionally challenging parts of ourselves. Rather than hiding from us and seeming to sabotage our efforts to move forward with our lives, our Inner Children now trust us and bring their joy and creativity to our endeavors.

 Opening to Healing from Our Higher Power

Because we did not feel safe as children, we often built up strong defenses to protect ourselves from further harm. But now we realize that these defenses actually keep us walled off from Life, relationships with others - and even a healthy relationship with ourselves and our Higher Power. This means learning to let go of the things that we do reactively, compulsively and unhealthfully, to try to keep ourselves from being in contact with our vulnerability. And in opening to our woundedness, Grace and Love now can enter us and support the healing unfolding within us. While we can do part of this healing journey by our own efforts, we come to realize the need for and the willingness to be open to something greater than our old defenses being a vital part of our spiritual journey towards the wholeness of our souls.

Having Healthy Relationships

Because we did not feel safe in our families in childhood, it is often the case that close relationships feel unsafe to us and we are tempted to keep our distance from others. But then we feel alone and empty, further deepening our dilemma of needing the connection, camaraderie and nurturance of others but also deeply fearing it will come at a steep price or even be dangerous. Gradually, as we heal our relationship with ourselves, we can have better awareness of our needs and consequently have better boundaries with others. As we also learn to love ourselves, we begin to finally let others love us, including God or our Higher Power.

 Finding our Purpose in LIfe

As we heal, we become more connected to what is real and meaningful to us. Our relationships become more honest and we find how rich it is to be open and truthful with others about who we are. We also connect to what is truly important to us in terms of work, service to others and what aligns with our Higher Self.