Self Knowledge is Your Key to Change
A smart man once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result.
But sometimes, both personally and in my psychotherapy practice, I run up against a problem that seems like a brick wall. All of the usual therapeutic techniques aren’t helping. It feels like I’m running into the brick wall over and over again, but expecting a different result.
This can be incredibly painful. The suffering that we’re trying to heal from can be compounded by a sense of despair. No matter what we do, it feels like things aren’t going to get better. It seems like there must be a missing ingredient – some key thing we could do differently that would result in a different, more transformative, outcome.
15 years ago, I put my Mind-Body training at Harvard to work with some patients, using guided imagery. 10 years ago, I incorporated light hypnosis into parts of my work after studying at UCLA. In 2013, I began training with Dr. Brian Weiss on past life regressions.
All of these tools rely on a simple principle – using relaxation to tap into different brainwave frequencies (Alpha and Theta states). When we enter these very relaxed states, something amazing happens. We get in touch with past experiences and past conditioning in a whole new way. We can then engage with dysfunction in a different way than our usual “thinking” mind does. It takes us away from our usual “thinking” mind into our unconscious.
Most of the memories that come up for us are not traumatic, but help us gain new insights. These moments can be tender and vulnerable. If we do re-engage with a past traumatic experience, it’s critically important that a therapist not “plant” any new memories, but be available to facilitate healing and skilled resolution.
Sometimes, we need to experience new insight, new perception, and new self-knowledge in an emotionally real way. If we’re ready to put in the hard work that comes with changing painful habits and patterns, these experiences can be the catalyst to breaking through the brick wall and finding healing on the other side.
Peggy Levinson LCSW, LMFT has been a practicing psychotherapist for over 40 years. Please visit her website at www.claytontherapy.comn and call her for a free phone consultation at 314.644.3339.