The Buddhist’s First Noble Truth necessary on the path to liberation is that ‘Life is suffering.’ Similarly, philosopher Martin Heidegger stated, “The soul’s greatness takes its measure from its capacity to … be … at home in pain.” According to therapist Alfried Langle we suffer for many reasons. He suggested that all possible forms of […]
Our Inner Masculine & Feminine Energy
All people contain both masculine and feminine qualities. Masculine traits include planning, order, accomplishments, competition and linear thinking. Feminine qualities include spontaneity, non-competiveness, intuition and looking relationally at situations. As children we learned, mostly by our parents, to act, believe and feel based upon the values given to feminine and masculine qualities. We were taught […]
Acceptance is key to change
Acceptance means seeing situations and people, including ourselves, as they actually are. However, situations are often difficult to accept (e.g., medical diagnosis, the end of a relationship) and demand the acknowledgment of potential and real losses, feeling the accompanying grief, and taking action to move forward. We sometimes spend much time and energy resisting and […]
Feelings do matter
For the most part, we live in an emotionally illiterate society and are not practiced in expressing and receiving feelings. We often feel embarrassed or vulnerable when talking about certain feelings. We silence ourselves so we might not hurt someone about how we feel. Ironically, we end up hurting our bodies and souls when we […]
False and True Selves
‘True self’ and ‘false self’ are terms introduced into psychotherapy by D. W. Winnicott in 1960. The true self describes a sense of self based on spontaneous authentic experience and a sense of “all-out personal aliveness” or “feeling real.” The false self is an ego defense designed to protect the true self by hiding it. […]
The Value of Pets in Our Lives
More than 50% of Canadian households own pets of some kind. The domestication of animals is not a new trend as evidence suggests that the domestication of dogs occurred at least 12,000 years ago and cats around 9000 years ago. What is the lure to share our living quarters with a pet? People often say […]
