Mental Health Doctor James Powell

well hello hello everybody good afternoon wherever you are in the world at this time welcome to reclaiming authenticity helping you find your courage to reclaim that which has always been in you very glad to be with your hair today and every Friday afternoon 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time doing Pacific Standard time I am dr. James hauke and if you would like more information about me or to leave me your comments about today shows or other shows I just invite you to visit the website that address is www.cbs radio.com reclaiming authenticity so www.bts radio.com claiming authenticity and if you like to call him today and join in on the conversation or just have any questions or other comments that that number is

888-627-6008 that's 888-627-6008 and I'll be taking your calls after the break and so I always like to talk to people and then they call in and they questions are otherwise podcast in case you want to go back and listen to or if you want to go back into the archives and listen to previous shows you can do that at your leisure and now they are also available for download on Audible or Amazon music and you can even listen to station one on iHeartRadio and for those who just might be turning the dial as we say and tuning in for the first time

I wanted to say welcome to the show always enjoy having your listeners and Ethan every week these broadcasts are dedicated to the integration of spirituality and our mental health and I'll say a little bit more about this integration and how I came up with that and it's just something that's quite unique when we put these two disciplines together so the integration of spirituality and mental health support over the past year do I would just like to say that that you now have the opportunity to continue your support by becoming a monthly subscriber now just low caveat here subscription is not required to listen to any of these broadcast but it is greatly appreciated so again just be sure to go to the website and click on the link and choose any

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interesting Lee there is a call out there to live a more authentic life and it is a it is a call it's a it's an ID or nuts if we can say that is becoming increasingly poignant these days and it seems that everywhere we turned genuineness and authenticity are becoming more and more rare characteristics among people who are just really searching for a palpable substance in their relationships and nowadays Society is a rapidly conditioning generations and generations to question the motives and desires of others like never before and in one sense that's healthy and the other sense not so much let me give you a quick example here that Personal Image

set an all-time fever pitch as it seems that one reality show after another presents us with anything but reality and it seems like we're being sold the message that to be the most socially acceptable person out there you know you have to have this socially acceptable Persona that money can buy and what kind of image that one puts out there and so forth and how many likes that you get on this page and so on and so forth and who's going to see your post and all that

and in fact it seems as though that the more drama and the more tears the better the front page story you know who can out shock who or who can accumulate more toys and points than anybody else or likes and who has more guile or more trickery who's more cunning either by hooker by Crook and the Cutthroat politics and religious candles have saturated The Daily News as bewildered people in coffee shops and bars look at each other and just wondering how much worse can it get well instead of taking people at face value we are now becoming accustomed to ask what's the catch

and perhaps as a result of a number of humiliating and painful experiences we that's the society individually and collectively we avoid any further investing of a essay of physical emotional or spiritual parts of ourselves in relationships for the more you know out of our Brokenness we may feel that we just cannot risk being a victim to yet another example of fraud or trickery and or just honest dishonesty but the the past physical psychological and spiritual wounding has taken too much out of us and leaving us to believe that other simply conspire to take advantage of our vulnerability

and yet I see this as just a very powerful dilemma that we face today cuz I'm one hand to destroy for genuineness and authenticity in relationships often Demands a level of vulnerability from us another words before we can expect and appreciate authenticity from another person we're forced to confront our own inconsistencies and or in authentic ways

and as idealistic as this kind of human interaction sounds genuineness and authenticity in relationships are tangible but they do indeed require a lifelong commitment to self-discovery and honesty about who we are with all of our warts and gifts and phobias and strengths and Grace personalities and so forth now it's unfortunate that this kind of commitment is considered by many you know just too high of a price to pay and simply not worth their time I mean you for some people wouldn't it just be easier to be satisfied with the status quo or go with the flow and just not question these things

well that might be the frequently traveled road but also let's not deceive ourselves this inner desire for genuineness and authenticity and relationships with ourselves and others and even our relationship with God is not going to go away and it more over that that internal logging to be more authentic and true or to ourselves will only get stronger it's a longing in which we can try to push away push down at North but it just continues to grow and grow and grow it's this inner ache in us for this authentic relationships and the question really comes down to it just how much more sleep do we want to keep losing night after night

and how many more times are we going to blame others for what we don't have well that's where we're going to begin today so as I usually start these broadcast you know with a question how is your heart today I will continue with that because I hope your hard as well I hope you are well and I hope that if you are struggling today you will find the rest and comfort and peace that you need so welcome to Today Show Square pegs in round holes integrating Spiritual Awakening Beyond Earthly expectations

well how many of you are one time or another felt as though you've found it difficult to fit in with this world and then I'm certainly convinced we spend a lot of energy trying to fit into a mold of another's making just to get a sense of belonging that many people find success in that and whatever definition of success there are using but many people do not in fact like more and more people are seeing themselves as a square peg as it were who are trying to fit into a round hole and they're constantly wrestling with and asking themselves how come I don't fit why does this seem to be such a struggle

why does it seem like the harder I try to fit in the more difficult it seems to be

and yet there is another phenomenon that occurs in people who at one point or another in their lives have experienced a powerful Spiritual Awakening or spiritual experience in which they have stopped trying to fit in you know that opt-out trying to fit into their round holes and they choose to leave behind

well in other words because when you think about it they've been so filled with that Spiritual Awakening that that's spiritual awareness that transformation that's begun in them that they've outgrown the former ways of thinking and doing and feeling as though they cannot grow in and through you know what that previous way of life where they can't grow in and through you know that system that they were once raised in or that they had become accustomed to they just can't fit into that any longer

and as uncomfortable as it is and that as it may seem sexually a very good place to be you know to to be in this process of searching and to be open and to be teachable and to be aware of how transformation is slowly taking place

but it's not a passive transformation we do indeed have a very active part and the continuing this transformation what has begun in us and it all boils down to what kind of integration are we shopping site to taking up or what kind of integration are we participating in and and just seeking just a continual transformation

well indeed transformation is is all around us everywhere in our life we have the different cycles of death and resurrection and dumb just like the the nature side of thing things you know each year we witnessed this cycle that's so evident in the change of seasons as let's say summer gives way to Autumn which then eventually gives way to Winter which gives way to Spring and so forth and back I was just talking to somebody earlier this week that adjusts look for me the middle to the end of February is my time or it's like okay come on let's get into March let's get into spring come onto can start to warm up now it's good and it's probably just a fat pig of winter that's sitting in for me but we do have the change of seasons and there's actually even this death Resurrection metaphor or theme that also

underlines the work of psychotherapy the work that I do in fact more often than not transformation occurs in the most unlikely ways when we're not paying attention when we were minding our own business and then bam there it is it shows up let me share with you an example of just a very powerful transformation in my years ago

in one of the mental health offices where I work hung a framed quote from the family therapist Virginia's a tear and if you've been listening to these broadcast for some time you know that I love Virginia City Aaron I probably already shared this story many times but this quote Virginia's a tear that has just always stayed with me the very first time that I had seen it and it goes like this

I want to love you without clutching

I want to appreciate you without judging

I want to join you without invading

I want to invite you without demanding

I want to leave you without guilt

I want to criticize you without blaming I want to help you without insulting and if I can have the same from you then we can truly meet each other

what day after day I I passed by this quote and yet I never really stopped to read it I never let it sink in let alone understand its impact on relationships both within and outside the counseling relationship so what day eating my lunch I read and I reread that quote slowly never copied it down just carried it with me and pulled it out and just looking at it and just really meditating on it and I remember saying to myself at one point wow this is a powerful saying but it's just far too demanding too many conditions too many changes would be required of a bit of people to reach this level of relationship and moreover I assumed that it's just unreal istic the place this kind of pressure on another person and expect them to keep their part of the bargain

well in various Counseling in pastoral settings I have witnessed too many people and including myself we are just making excuses for not wanting to be authentic in relationships I mean I've heard saying such as I've been hurt for me once shame on you she hurt my feelings and so forth

and yet the more I sat with this quote from Virginia City are there was something that's kind of resonating with in me you know identifying with those words as if I had truth staring me right in the face so 4 days and weeks that followed this gnawing inside of me to reclaim my own off the authenticity only became stronger and tears words pursued me like a shadow I couldn't outrun and little did I realize that the time that I was reading her goals for her own life so you steer was born in 1916 and she was certainly freaking say ahead of her time

and instead of the viewing Humanity's problems as stemming from the say the neuroses of her day she believes that problems were the result of how people we're unprepared to cope with life's challenges whether they are past or present or future

attracting and some of her writing she used to say life is not what it's supposed to be it is what it is but the way you cope with it makes the difference

secure believe that all people are equipped with a capacity for growth transformation and continuing education focusing her technique on finding a person's true inner self

I thought they could be said that satiras life you know her passion and just in the way she work with individuals and families was really to empower them to live more congruent genuine lights

and I like that I like that very much

but you know authenticity is often a foreign concept to many people yet despite not knowing what to call it still people are attracted to genuineness in relationships and desperately want more of it in their relationships

but is this realistic I mean just how real can a person be with others you know because it's one thing to look in the mirror and to see ourselves for who we are it's a matter it's another matter altogether not to succumb to the opinions of others

too often we we live our lives under the Relentless bombardment of another person's condition for acceptance and cetiri used to say that we must not allow another person's limited perception to Define us which brings us back to kind of like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole

well when you think about it

yeah we are raised with so many conditions conditions that are placed on love and relationships conditions that are are placed on performance and perspectives that we often approach life with a what's the catch mentality

well one of my other favorite books besides besides just many that I'm looking at it my bookshelf even today just many from Paulo Coelho one book I truly love is the return of the Prodigal Son written by Andrew nowlan picture of just how unfulfilling conditional love is and he writes at issue here is the question to whom do I belong do I belong to God or do I belong to the world and many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than God because a little criticism makes me angry at a little rejection makes me depressed

a little praise raises my spirits and a little success excites me it takes very little to raise me up or even to thrust me down and often I am like a small boat on the ocean completely at the mercy of its waves in all the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows that's my life is mostly a struggle for survival not a holy struggle but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it's the world that defines me

so as long as I keep running about asking do you love me that it made me do you really love me

I give all the power to the voices of the world and put myself back in bondage because the world is filled with IFS

the world says yes I love you if you are good looking I love you if you are intelligent

I love you if you are wealthy

I love you if you have a good education I have a good job and good connections I love you if you produce much and so much and by much

however there are endless it's hidden in the world's love

these efforts enslave me since it is impossible to respond adequately to all of them

the world's love is and always will be conditional

as long as I keep looking for my true self in the world of conditional love I will remain hooked to the world trying and failing and trying again

it is a world that Fosters addictions because what it offers cannot satisfy the deepest Cravings of my heart

well in my work as a mental health therapist and pastoral professional I have set with many many people I've suggested people to become more authentic in their relationships and I've we've sat and we've talked through and talked about and just meditate it on Virginia satirist quote as well as Henry now is writing here in the return of the prodigal son and as I said I insist people to become more authentic and their relationships and really to take an honest look at themselves and ourselves and consider what role and responsibilities we have in relationships because too often people want to blame others for their own mistakes or their own problems and sleepless nights but you know the truth be told of cording to the band the Eagles and it's so often times it happens that we live our life

Alice in Chains and we never even know we have the key

sound familiar

I got this philosophy sounds great but it also takes great courage to turn the key let alone step outside of the chains and walk in one's new found Freedom that is very difficult to deal with so many changes that we have to make and this is where integration comes in how do we live out these new experiences how do we live out this newfound freedom and this is a very similar metaphor found in Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol now Dickens was one who was deeply disturbed by the way the poor were being treated in his day and his writings were often viewed in response to the British government changing the welfare system known as the poor laws that require children to work in the say the tin mines and factories and Welfare

applicants to work on treadmills that is machine engine powered turning just by walking well in Dickinson size the Industrial Revolution just simply drove many people into poverty and yet at the same time it neglected its obligation to provide just basic Humane Social Services

so his his story A Christmas Carol is set on Christmas Eve back in 1843 and it was seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley now to set the stage Dickens describe Scrooge as a squeezing wrenching grasping scraping clutching Covetous old sinner one who finds no room in his heart for any form of kindness or Compassion or love or generosity in fact Scrooged really despise his Christmas and then he decides to spend it alone although he's invited to his nephew Fred's home even go so far as the chase away to gentleman who asked him for a donation to provide just that a very modest Christmas dinner for the poor

and then that night Scrooge's you know the story Scrooge is visited by Jacob Marley's ghost and Marley was forced to wear the these cumbersome chains of misery and regret in the afterlife and it's it's through this visitation that Marley warn Scrooge to change his greedy and unforgiving ways otherwise he will experience the same miserable afterlife as himself

well Scrooge's then visited by three additional ghost Beach and turn you know it and then each visit of them detailed just a separate point to make and they all accompany him to various scenes with the hope of achieving this transformation as you know the story at work can I buy morning Scrooge has undergone a complete transformation in his heart and in his soul he breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that he has not missed Christmas and it begins to labish Goodwill and gifts on anyone he meets and moreover he cannot keep his Newfound joy to himself especially to the Cratchit family

and the lesson is well concluded that there is hope for all of humanity because even the most Covetous old sinner is capable of a change of heart well you know I really wish Dickens had written a sequel to A Christmas Carol because I would really love to have seen how Ebenezer Scrooge's life turned out how do they spend the rest of his days how many lives do they actually touch you know and life-changing ways after that first Christmas how did this transformation carry him through tough times that he may have faced in the future and so on and so on me and these are the real questions that follow such a powerful spiritual transformation how do we integrate what has so turned our world

so upside down

well I really love to hear your heart on this subject so I can if you would like to call in that number is 888-627-6008 and I'll be taking your calls after the break again you are listening to reclaiming authenticity and I'm your host dr. James hauke I'll be back with you in 1 minute

okay welcome back I'm dr. James how can you are listening to reclaiming authenticity and just a quick word about next week show next Friday we thought it was going to be February 25th so we're just about out of February not quite I just about so next Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time noon Pacific Standard time ever going to continue this conversation about just where transformation takes us and just what it does it mean to integrate these spiritual experiences that we have I just where the transformation begin and continue does it begin in our minds does it begin in our hearts how do we live it out on a physical level how do we live it out on a psychological now how do we live out a transformation and you know within our emotions and even on a spiritual level and so forth so invite you to tune in Next Friday 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

we're going to continue this discussion on the integration that leads towards transformation

well earlier in the show I was talking about how we spend a lot of energy just trying to fit into the mold or more molds of other people's making just to get a sense of belonging you know we we struggle for so long perhaps of just trying to fit in your weather that be like more of making friends or you know what's my purpose and direction in gold and meaning in life and so forth and many people do find success in that you know whatever and again that whatever definition of success they are using but many people often struggle with this know where do I fit in where do I fit where do I not fit and so forth but more and more people especially the ones that I talk to and hang out with are seeing themselves as a square peg as it were and who are trying to fit into a round hole

and and they're asking themselves getting frustrated like why don't I fit their why does it seem like the harder I try to fit in the more difficult it seems to be and you know the go to the automatic go to answer is well maybe you are not supposed to fit into that round hole and so forth so okay so there's also another phenomenon that's occurring in today's society and then off and it's down through history as well that people who at one point or another in their lives who have less a experienced a very powerful Spiritual Awakening

or or just another powerful spiritual experience in which they opt out of trying to fit into another person's round hole and the choose to leave it behind they just say I'm not going to try to fit into the mold of another person because I can't because they have been so filled with that Spiritual Awakening that they've actually outgrown the former ways of thinking and doing and feeling as though they cannot grow in and through that system any longer

and as uncomfortable as it may seem this is actually a very healthy place to be a very good place to be you know because at that point where you know you're searching and then you're open and you're teachable when you're aware of how a transformation has taken place and that its ongoing that is continuous and ironically this is exactly where it to gracian and transformation intersect so even if we don't know exactly where the transformation is going to take us we know that change has occurred and we can point to the fact that we just were not finding a good place to fit in because maybe that's not the place for us to be okay so but we are open to okay so where do I fit where is this transformation taking me

and we need to not only integrate but we also need to surrender to this and Trust so whatever we have a spiritual awakening and our lives are turned upside down this is only the beginning you know now comes this task of integrating how we live this out on a daily basis and other words you know how do we spend the rest of our days you know how many lives do we touch in life changing ways in the ordinariness of life and how does this transformation carry us through the tough times that we face and these are real questions but follow such a powerful spiritual transformation how do we integrate what has so turned our world upside down and this is something that I even seeing scripture you know I often drawn to the stories and which you know we have somebody we have a character in in the Bible

for the bug of agita or sore get out some other sacred scripture and we just can't see them for very limited time. They may just come into the story and they leave and that's it we never hear from them again and I have to wonder you know just what happened to their life you know you know where do they go from there how did this transformation that started in them that were privy to through the story what does that look like a year from then three years five years ten years 30 years or whatever it might be

Italia in the gospels we have more of those stories of individuals that just come in and out of the Gospel stories and have this interaction with Jesus they find their healing they have their needs met or prayers answered something and they are transformed just right then and there

and then I leave and we never hear from them again and so I thought it was thought to be nice to just wonder you know what became of their life how did they live this who are the people that they talked to immediately did other people around them see that transformation and where they also drawn to you know this this transformation that had taken place in the person

because you see these transformation occurs more than just on a spiritual level that occurs on an emotional and a psychological level as well and not only does the soul take the Journey about the psyche shall we say has to take one as well you know despite the various is a psychological foundations of the foundational models whether it's psychoanalytical or cognitive behavior over humanistic-existential know that that they all have a Common Thread you know that despite the problem at hand they all measure healing in terms of striving toward a more authentic life you know an excellent experience is best characterized by the act of finding oneself and then living in coordinates with this self anymore over reclaiming

Tessa de you know by doing that a person is much better position to move towards let's say a self-actualization and a genuine satisfaction with life and I talked a little bit about this last time you know I'm just so you know Abraham Maslow self-actualization and just how that is kind of like that a different signposts along the way just as a person is moving towards you know their needs and so forth and how once we reach the top of self-actualization that we then need to go back down to the bottom and help another on this journey as well because when we think about it somebody else helped us we didn't get to South being self-actualized all on our route

so there is also an extension of psychologists Rollo May and he states that this change or this transformation requires Great courage to persevere and then to preserve inner freedom to move on in one's inward journey into new Realms as it takes great great courage it takes perseverance

I guess but integration is the key

and the four people who have experienced the Messiah genuine mystical religious or spiritual encounter with God they are never the same that their values and goals have undergone a life transformation from being it's a singular and selfish to other centered and God centered and benevolent

and in addition to this change people may often struggle with trying to make sense of their encounters with God you know it then that proves us right back to this metaphor of a square peg in a round hole again but a note of caution here these these lifelong changes do not occur overnight they will and they may take several years for people to integrate them into their lives to fully embrace the implications and applications of just what does this mean for me now I work with many of people still work with many people who have had a near-death experience and just a basic definition near-death experience here is defined as a profound psychological event that may occur to a person close to death or if not near death and in the situation of physical or even emotional crisis

in other words because of an accident or an illness injury whatever the heart stops they are pronounced dead but they have this phenomena experience the near-death experience in which they may see loved ones they made meets Christ they made me other spiritual figures along the way and they're confronted with everything that they had said or what was said to them or heard or what they have done they they know if they they they hear it's they feel it as well as okay not ready to you know it's not your time yet and then they come back and they are you know that that's the body is being resuscitated person feels as though they're being thrown back into their bodies but there are there been many great visions that people have shared all over the world that a near-death experience is not exclusive to an ash

now we or an ethnicity or an age or your culture or whatever because children have had near-death experiences young adults older adults you know and so far it's it's just one of these phenomena and because it includes such a transcendental and mystical elements a near-death experience is just a powerful events of the say Consciousness and it is not repeat not a mental illness

and whether happening you know truly near death or under benign circumstances that the near-death experience contains powerful images and emotions usually have peace and love through you know that sometimes Terror and despair and guilt of your death experience may include an out-of-the-body experience Vivid perceptions of the same movement or light or Darkness encounters with deceased loved ones unfamiliar entities and or spiritual presence has sometimes a Life review and the landscape for a sense of overpowering knowledge and purpose but getting back to the point of integration when people have had these near-death experiences yes they are forever changed however my research has shown in this area that it takes an average of about 12 on the

13 years on average for people to emotionally physically psychologically and spiritually to adjust to a near-death experience in fact I think the longest recording and I have to go back and make sure this is up-to-date but the longest recording that I've read about note about is 42 years

a person spent 42 years trying to integrate what their near-death experience means to them the fact that researchers also identified six challenges that people you encounter when integrating their near-death experiences and there's you know a lot of overlap from you know the near-death experience her and other people who have had just very intense transformation with some sort of you know a spiritual experience for Spiritual transformation of the first being just processing just radical shift in reality

ghetto people experience just a radical new concept of life and death the afterlife or Body Mind and Spirit it's it's just they become aware of so much more

vendors accepting the return you know people are sent back from what is often described as a Heavenly place of unconditional love and light and I often try to joke with people that you do and I I can certainly understand just you know arguing that we say that why should I go back out here I am in a place of unconditional love just bathed in that and next thing you know you know a person is sent back and they're integrating their lives and they're sitting in traffic on the highway and their think of themselves I came back for this but you know people accepting you do this return to that and as a result of people who experience this you know no longer fear death but Express a yearning or feeling or even a homesickness for the environment that they experienced during their near-death experience

third army people want to share the experience and people feel as though they need to share what happened to them not just to be loved and accepted but also to help process and understand what happened and although they lack the words to describe this vividness of their near-death experience that they also expressed frustration and talking to people who wouldn't just take what they have to say dismiss it or even pathologize what they encountered and there are times when in extreme cases divorce or career changes have occurred

I'd even let you know next Thurs integrating new spiritual values with Earthly expectations in a people Express emotional and sometimes physical pain and in restructuring their lives and namely putting the pieces back together that may no longer fit and terms of perspectives and relationships and assumptions you know many people have expressed the need to tell others to be more loving and forgiving than their relationships I've heard on more than one occasion just sitting with people who've had near-death experiences and they remind me of this they said but whatever you do forgive the people love the people where they are you know life is too short and it's more important to be in right relationships rather than to try to be right all the time

causes of friction in other areas of a person's life in terms of their religion or politics or careers or other financial resources and even spirituality I do recall this one of them and he walked away from an easy six figure salary just because his values had changed

he just say okay that that might have been married one time but I can't do that anymore I just like it's not me

I'd I just have to leave it you know because I now since just a higher calling in my life

and certainly you know adjusting to height and sensitivities even Supernatural gifts you know not everybody but what some you know people often experienced a major shift in their sensitivity towards vibrational energy no such as like strong emotions they cannot tolerate being around or negative energy is just too difficult to be around or being acutely aware of odors or visions and taste and sounds and touch and just even some people Express sensitivity being around technology you know if they can't wear watches or they can't be around computers it's just it's it's too much there just have this heightened sensitivity

and others you know I also have this heightened sense of intuition and other words you know it's like a mental telepathy or seeing the person Zara or or whatever and finally finding and living out one's purpose and people often struggle with the reasons why they were sent back to let's say the Earthly realm and I often spend their lives discovering and fulfilling that purpose you know again people have shared with me that well I must have been sent back for a reason and so now I'm going to find out what that reason is I'm going to search

and it's just that that inner drive that they have and some people believe that there are sent back to serve and teach others about loving unconditionally or being more tolerant toward themselves and others or help others to lead more authentic spiritually rewarding lives

so pretty one who has ever gone through like a transformative spiritual experience you know Finding Your bearing let alone just come to terms with Which Way Kathy a lifelong process you know just from rediscovering your own true meaning and purpose in life to adjusting to let's say height and sensitivities and so forth integration is the key integration is the key it it takes time it takes time to how do I live out such a transformation on a daily basis and it just might take people out of their jobs you know it to be just cuz you're such a radical shift and their understanding and I go from a very competitive once their life to becoming very compassionate and their life and they they choose not to fight anymore they choose not to

you know just struggle against people but they they really strive to become more loving and understanding and forgiving and compassionate and yet authenticity allows one the ability to move past these this preoccupation of things that are Beyond one's control as well as to abandon unnecessary concerns over these preconceived notions of others with respect to oneself

I'm in short this is the ultimate form of empowerment and responsibility so discovering our authentic selves as well as the Daily Commitment to live congruently we experienced firsthand the personal freedom and responsibility that it produces

well following up on my beloved analogy of climbing mountains many people also proceed this integration of let's say mental health in spirituality or integrating just powerful spiritual transformation very similar to taking an inward journey of the weariness and self-discovery

and yet just as there are familiar themes of guides or and fellow voyagers a person's interior journey is not taking a loan

now there's there's others who have come alongside to company the person into perhaps unfamiliar territory

and this is something I have always compared to know the relationship let's say between a therapist and a client or a teacher and a student to that of Virgil and Dante in The Inferno is written by Dante Alighieri

and it's his work in The Inferno is considered to be Dante's greatest work and it recorded this symbolic journey through hell and it's often rich with Christian themes of sin and salvation and Redemption and at the very beginning of the story it sets this stage of your going to need somebody to walk with you through this

because you know Dante begins that you know he's lost his path through a dark wood and he now wonders dreadfully through the forest and as the sun shines down on a mountain above him is Dante attempts to climb this mountain but he finds it this way blocked by three beasts I leopard a lion at a she-wolf and he's terrified and he's also stranded and Dante resigned himself to the dark wood and even contemplate suicide in other words in the world am I going to get out of this predicament

I try and I can't find a way out so when am I going to do and it's there where he encounters the the Roman poet Virgil who tells Dante that he has come to guide him back to his path to reach the top of this mountain

and Virgil also added that it was Beatrice Dante's deceased loved and two other women who sent Virgil to guide him but first Virgil explains that the path they will take is going to take them through how and that they will eventually reach heaven which is where Beatrice is waiting

and so as they approach the gates of hell this sobering chill grips Dante and then course the reader as he takes note of this haunting inscription that's above abandon all hope you who enter here

perhaps this sign is reminder that an inward journey is not without the danger of becoming overwhelmed at what one discovers even to the point of despair

well in this respect I see the counseling process be unlike The Inferno as a therapist or a teacher or a guru Pastor explores the depths of a person's hell of addiction or abuse or traumatic experiences and so forth and yet unlike The Inferno regardless of the emotional pain and suffering and Wilderness the ones who have walked this journey before the ones who have integrated its lessons and the ones who have been transformed are also the ones who hold out hope and wisdom and Redemption as they agree to walk with their clients through this transformation towards living a more authentic life

see what I've discovered in dealing with people's stories regarding their first-hand encounters with God is that what really separates if we want to get into this like a genuine religious or spiritual experience from one that's artificial is the transformation or the end result that occurs in them or even not so some of my questions you know for the person as we journey together is as a result of having this experience as a result of having this profound spiritual just transformation that has turned your world upside down

what do you notice about yourself that you were not aware of before

what is this experience mean for you

what degree do you feel your life is changed

60 degree turn 120 degree turn 180 degree turn or 360 degree turn

and then where is the spiritual experience is transformation challenging you in your life

who are the people in your life that have noticed such a change

who else might benefit from your experience

who might be burdened by it

what new calling or Direction your life to you now since

I'm finally what questions were made for you

when we experienced a powerful spiritual transformation it's not the end it's the beginning beginning of something better the more we integrate how we live out this in the how we live it out in relationships with one another the more and more of this is going to unfold the more and more we are taught to embrace the more and more also we're going to realize that we don't know what we don't know

but there is trust involved it's a journey it's not a race

when dr. James how can you have been listening to reclaiming authenticity thank you for spending this hour with me and invite you to be with me back here next Friday I was going to say September let's not get ahead of ourselves February 25th at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time so in the meantime until we talk to each other again may you be at peace may you be safe and may God Hold Us in the palm of God's hand take care bye bye

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