Not a typo although weight would have done nicely. What is healing in the context of global trauma, how do we get to be ok when there is so much suffering? Working in the humanitarian space for so long, this question was always front of mind. I got to go
In Part 1, on my last blog, I said, because we are collectivist people living in individualist societies, therapy is woefully inadequate and, it’s what we have right now. Another way in which therapy is woefully inadequate, is in the rigid way we tend to ‘do’ therapy. I’ve been following the work
I’m still thinking through what it means for me having lost so much through leaving church, and I find the concept of domains helpful. We have the domains of family, work, contribution and service, our inner worlds and then belonging to groups like faith communities, sports clubs and other interests, like hobbies.
It’s funny isn’t it that when we start to think about, or focus on a particular thing, it seems to pop up everywhere. There’s science to this phenomenon that I’ll leave for another day, but it’s happened to me this last few weeks. I’ve been spending a of time on Substack recently.
I wrote on my Substack this week about the God of my imagination. I’d been reflecting on how I created God in my imagination. Which is, of course, what we all do as we learn about faith, as it becomes our framework, identity, worldview, a relationship with the divine. It’s
I was reminded of a great descriptor yesterday – overcoupling. In context, it means attaching or blending two emotions or states together. For example, we witness the pain of other people and we take it on as our own. This is different to empathy which says I can imagine and have
When we talk about stress and trauma responses, we hear a lot about fight & flight. The instinct to punch something or run, be it from a tiger or a terse email. This is often celebrated, we think it’s great when people are perceived as being strong or resilient when
Many of you know I work with a lot of people recovering from harm done in religious spaces. From high control groups to cults and rebuilding identity, it’s a big topic. I’ve spoken in many places about my own story too. I’m not anti-God, anti-church or anti-religion however these are
I was reminded recently of a beautiful piece of writing by one of my favourite poets, Padraig O’Tuama. The lovely, soft Irishman whose voice could bring calm into any breathless situation. You can listen to him here. The piece is from his book, Finding a Home in the World.Read these gorgeous words in the light of
