So here’s my summer gift to all of my readers. Please enjoy!

Autobiography in Five Chapters

I walk down the street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost . . . I am hopeless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I’m in the same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street,
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in . . . it’s a habit.
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault
I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.

(Borrowed from the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, p. 31-32

Footnote references: Portia Nelson quoted in Charles L. Whitfield M.D., Healing the Child Within (Orlando, FL: Health Communications, 1989).

Last week I went to a training at the Buddhist school I am affiliated with in California. While there I was asked what my participation in the school has meant to me. My response was that I cherish the sense of belonging to this group, of feeling like I am part of something and that the other members are a support to me. I realized that this belongingness manifests in the world as my teachers, my fellow classmates and the support I get from these relationships. I cherish this sense of refuge, a place in my mind where I can go when feeling lonely or distracted, to recharge my batteries, basking in the warmth of the group.

Belonging is an important part of our journey towards wholeness and true happiness in life. We are all tribal people. We each need a tribe to belong to, to support and to be supported by. In our modern fast-paced world where individualism is valued more then belonging and cooperation, becoming disconnected and isolated is becoming more common. Human beings thrive in cooperative groups. For the health of ourselves and our society we all need to find a way to feel like we belong.

…the body, the mind and the spirit or soul. Effective psychotherapy is holistic. It includes all aspects of the client’s life: family, friends, personal growth, and relationships; working to bring the whole person into balance. This requires working with body, mind and spirit.

Healing and growth for the body…

…is both emotional and physical healing. Emotions are body-based. You feel your emotions in your body, you express them through your body and communicate feelings to others through your body. When traumatic life events causes suppression of emotions your ability to life a joyous, compassionate life is compromised. Somatic or Body-centered psychotherapy technics help reconnect disowned feelings and and you begin to regain the fluid, lively quality of a joyful life. It is common to have improvements in in physical health as well.

Healing and growth for the mind…

…is accomplished through talking about life experiences, identifying self-defeating thought patterns and learning to understand painful life-events in positive life-affirming ways. This part of the work includes being more skillful in relationships such as setting more appropriate boundaries with loved ones and communicating more effectively with the people in your life.

Healing for the soul or the spirit…

…is going to depend on your belief system about having a soul or a spiritual identity. Soul work is the work of getting in touch with spontaneous creativity, also called the muse. You begin experiencing greater creativity and gains confidence necessary to trust in and express your creative intuition. This integration manifests differently in every person but is visible as increased creativity, joy, spontaneity, healthier relations, and an over-all improved satisfaction with life.