August makes way for September; and I find myself – like millions of others – making my way back into the familiar routines. It has been a good, long break for me this year: 8 weeks away from teaching commitments, 5 weeks away from therapist and supervisor roles. Next week, it all gets going again – and its a mix of feelings. I have also had a long break from blogging, making the decision to focus my writing practice on my second book project over the summer months.
The summer has been good to me. The hopes I had back in June to make this a summer full with writing, biking, and Ngondro (repeat) came to be, and – in the main – done so with a gentle rhythm. I feel nourished across mind, body, and spirit. I am sure I could have carried on for another month; and yet the degree of satisfaction and restfulness found means I can look ahead with no regrets and the energy to step back on the annual cycle.
Of course, being human, the summer was not without its challenges TBC
For now though, to tell the story of satisfaction and nourishment…my body feels strong from my biking: culminating in a climb up the highest peak in the Vosges mountains, le Grand Ballon. Such climbs often evoke peak experiences for me – the physical challenge for sure, but also to ride alone through such peaceful and beautiful scenery helps me contact much awe and gratitude. Undoubtedly, I am more in touch with these elements because of my meditation path*; and especially as a practitioner of Vajrayana Buddhism where “sacred world” is a key principle. Accordingly, for much of my Ngondro practice over the summer I took myself to the local park and practiced outside – nature is a great support to connect to the qualities of our own innate being. Longer than usual, daily sessions mean I have made great strides toward completing this (now 5 year-long) ‘preparatory’ phase.
What strikes me as I write is how in describing ‘satisfaction’, how often we do so through measures like climbing a mountain or completing recitations. Objectively, a good summer; subjectively, not without challenge.
And this is relevant as I give a flavour of my writing experiences recently. Again, objectively good progress, subjectively, the usual aches and pains of the blank page block, the dilemmas of content and communication, and often the most difficult for me: knowing what to leave out! Yet what is more relevant with the objective / subjective is the interplay of opposites. The more I have researched, contemplated, and sketched out in this planned book on the humanistic tradition of psychotherapy, the more I am convinced the power of this approach is how it fosters an appreciation for, and way of life based upon, the dialogue between extremes; a dialectic across polarities.
How come I see this strength of the humanistic tradition setting it apart from other psychotherapies? I imagine much of this is like a fractal – the tradition enables the dialectic line to be walked becomes it comes from a dialectic: it is our very root…or two roots to be precise. The first, our philosophical heritage. From the ancients like Socrates, through to the idealists like Hegel, and political theorist Marx – all have known the power of refinement of ideas through the back and forth. The second root is psychology; and Rollo May is a great example of a humanistic psychologist whose theories rest on the bedrock of paradox and contradiction. In his text “The courage to create” for instance, May points to the tension between conviction and doubt as the foundation of the highest form of courage. Furthermore he invites us to “recall how often in human history the saint and the rebel have been the same person” (p. 35). The fractal? Both philosophical and psychological traditions that feed into humanistic psychotherapy have at their heart dialectic and paradox; AND we need the point / counterpoint dialogue offered in the between of the tradition of questions and the tradition of answers. The thesis of my book – “what makes a humanistic psychotherapy?” (when it so often is couched in a historical context of counselling) rests on the need for both / and: the existential-phenomenological of continental Europe; and the humanistic psychology of America. Indeed, one might say (as Kirk Schneider actually does in his 2010 text with Krug, “Existential-humanistic Therapy”) that the inputs to our tradition, the “existential accents on human limitation with humanistic accents on human possibility” provides a combination that “creates paradoxical unity of complimentary opposites” (pg. 6).
Thinking-about and writing-to these dialectics is an autumn project for me. It occurred to me that I could explore the main concepts of the humanistic and existential inputs through a series of ‘couplets’**. And, in remembrance and spirit of how I got momentum with my first book, it also occurred to me that a presentation of these couplets as blog posts is a vehicle for keeping my blog current AND my book progress on track. I hope you will join me in the coming few months…
…AND, I have other intentions in this ‘new year’ which will influence and shape my blogging activity. In just over two months the third term of my personal and professional development group “Through the lens of the enneagram” kicks off. This time around I have set aside a few weeks for a series of ‘primer’ sessions to help people orientate to the system of the enneagram. I am excited to bring together previous participants and newcomers alike: for me, there is nothing like a mixed-experienced group to deepen our competent and dexterous handling with a system like the enneagram. It is my hope to pepper this blog with some enneagram inspired posts too.
It’s BOTH good to be back…AND, I miss the summer already.
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* Although I do remember ascending the famous Alpe d’Huez climb nearly 20 years ago and feeling something quite magical – i just didn’t have the same language for it back then
** Keeping my powder dry, just a few: existence and essence, nothingness and potential, freedom and limits, time and space, being and becoming. All subject to change!