http://www.goodtherapy.org/Spirituality-Psychotherapy-article.html Latest articles from John Rhead, Ph.D. Sat, 4 Jul 2009 05:30:23 GMT en-us http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/natural-breathing/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/natural-breathing/ Fri, 4 Jul 2008 03:36:41 GMT For a long time I have experimented with various visualizations with regard to breathing. Usually these involve visualizing something associated with inhalation, such as peace, and something else associated with exhalation, such as joy. For the past few months I have settled on the concept/image of grace on inhalation, and love on exhalation. I have refrained from looking up the dictionary definition of ?grace,? because it is not the one I am using and I don?t want to confuse myself before I finish writing this. I am using the vague idea of grace that comes from my childhood exposure to religion, primarily Christianity. From that exposure I have come to think of grace as something like divine loving benevolence that is always available for the asking, sort of the way oxygen is available if one inhales. That I might inhale grace and convert it to something like human love seems but a small leap of faith. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/dangers-inherent-in-the-trivialization-of-psychotherapy/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/dangers-inherent-in-the-trivialization-of-psychotherapy/ Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 GMT For a long time I have experimented with various visualizations with regard to breathing. Usually these involve visualizing something associated with inhalation, such as peace, and something else associated with exhalation, such as joy. For the past few months I have settled on the concept/image of grace on inhalation, and love on exhalation. I have refrained from looking up the dictionary definition of ?grace,? because it is not the one I am using and I don?t want to confuse myself before I finish writing this. I am using the vague idea of grace that comes from my childhood exposure to religion, primarily Christianity. From that exposure I have come to think of grace as something like divine loving benevolence that is always available for the asking, sort of the way oxygen is available if one inhales. That I might inhale grace and convert it to something like human love seems but a small leap of faith. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/integrating-psychotherapy-and-spirituality/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/integrating-psychotherapy-and-spirituality/ Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 GMT For a long time I have experimented with various visualizations with regard to breathing. Usually these involve visualizing something associated with inhalation, such as peace, and something else associated with exhalation, such as joy. For the past few months I have settled on the concept/image of grace on inhalation, and love on exhalation. I have refrained from looking up the dictionary definition of ?grace,? because it is not the one I am using and I don?t want to confuse myself before I finish writing this. I am using the vague idea of grace that comes from my childhood exposure to religion, primarily Christianity. From that exposure I have come to think of grace as something like divine loving benevolence that is always available for the asking, sort of the way oxygen is available if one inhales. That I might inhale grace and convert it to something like human love seems but a small leap of faith. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/nurturing-our-nature/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/nurturing-our-nature/ Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 GMT For a long time I have experimented with various visualizations with regard to breathing. Usually these involve visualizing something associated with inhalation, such as peace, and something else associated with exhalation, such as joy. For the past few months I have settled on the concept/image of grace on inhalation, and love on exhalation. I have refrained from looking up the dictionary definition of ?grace,? because it is not the one I am using and I don?t want to confuse myself before I finish writing this. I am using the vague idea of grace that comes from my childhood exposure to religion, primarily Christianity. From that exposure I have come to think of grace as something like divine loving benevolence that is always available for the asking, sort of the way oxygen is available if one inhales. That I might inhale grace and convert it to something like human love seems but a small leap of faith. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychotherapy-consciousness/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychotherapy-consciousness/ Thu, 2 Apr 2009 19:02:25 GMT Many machines with rotating parts contain flywheels. Almost all automobile engines have them. A flywheel is a heavy wheel which rotates when the machine of which it is a part is running. Because it is heavy the flywheel absorbs surges of energy, thereby causing the machine to run more smoothly. The flywheel also stores kinetic energy when it is rotating and can keep a machine running for a period of time even if the usual source of energy (e.g. gasoline motor, water wheel, windmill) stops providing input. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychotherapy-intimacy-and-the-sacred/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psychotherapy-intimacy-and-the-sacred/ Sat, 26 Apr 2008 01:31:52 GMT Intimacy refers to being seen or known. One can be seen or known by oneself, by another being (human or otherwise) or by God. Individual psychotherapy usually focuses on knowing oneself better, which is to say becoming more intimate with one?s self. The usual term for this process is ?insight.? Group psychotherapy addresses being better known by others, which of course results in greater knowing of oneself in the process. This is the place where the term ?intimacy? is most commonly used. Relationships with non-humans in which one comes to be known can be as mundane as a relationship with a pet dog or cat and as elaborate as encounters with spirit guides in all kinds of animal forms while engaging in shamanic journeying. Finally one may experience being known by God, or the Sacred Mystery, through spiritual practices such as prayer and meditation. Of course many would assume that one does not really reveal oneself to God through such practices, since it is assumed that God already knows everything; the experience of being known by God is really just a result of coming to know oneself better through spiritual practices. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/solitude-and-surrender/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/solitude-and-surrender/ Thu, 4 Sep 2008 01:31:11 GMT Lately I have been reading about solitude and writing about surrender. They seem to go together and have much to say about the spiritual dimension of psychotherapy. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/the-unseen-sangha/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/the-unseen-sangha/ Tue, 30 Nov 1999 06:00:00 GMT Lately I have been reading about solitude and writing about surrender. They seem to go together and have much to say about the spiritual dimension of psychotherapy. http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/you-always-hurt-the-one-you-love/ http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/you-always-hurt-the-one-you-love/ Sun, 1 Nov 2009 15:13:26 GMT The song from which I borrowed my title continues: ?The one you shouldn?t hurt at all.? Yet it does indeed seem to be nearly universal that we hurt, and are hurt by, those with whom we believe we are ?in love.?