Posts Tagged 'spiritual pursuit'

170. Tuning in to who I am

Here is another example of reading art. As it was in the previous entry, when you look at the drawing at first it seems as if it will be hard to tell something clear about it. But as I started describing what I see, the vision became clear. This is the fun in this game. The truth is always hiding in plain sight. And my blog has turned into straight forward reading of my art, based on the most straight-forward approach to understanding subconscious content through art. It is: simply describing what I see. As I describe what I see, the connection to my life appears. The art had to be done intuitively, to reflect so clearly what is going on in the subconscious. Any thinking-guided part of the art would have stopped the flow of the description and obscure the clarity. We would have to read the thought first and let it go in this way, so that the next drawing will flow better. It is a method. I am describing the method that I use in art therapy. Everything in this blog, right from the first entry has to do with how I work not only on myself but with others, to clear blockages to their inner flow and allow them to find out who they really are.

The layers of different focusses

The layers of different focusses

It looks like a collection of creatures. They are very lively and have the sense of being absorbed in being who they are, as monkeys do, but without an awareness of it. They also seem to be agitated and about to jump at any moment. This is what animals do. They behave as who they are, without any hindrances, and they do not know who they are. It is a simple life.

They look like monkeys or cats or bugs.

There is the lower layer in purple and browns. Then there is an upper layer in green and light blue. And finally there are the two light orange creatures at the top of the picture.

You can see that the interest of the animals in the lowest layer is horizontal. They do not think about going up.

The interest of the green animal is in the process of changing. The animal stops going right, horizontally, and turns to look up. The blue lines that come out of it also turn in different directions.

The light orange critters at the top of the picture fly up into the sky, and you can see that they are fine with it. They are peaceful. They do not feel fear. You can say that they are enjoying the flight.

All these are different focuses of the animals and the critters. These focuses are available to every one of them, but they make a choice and focus in one way.

Other interesting elements in the drawing are the two places where there are the shapes in more intense orange. The one in the lower strata just creates an intense interest, presenting to the animals something intensely different. The one on the upper layer seems to be what has stopped the green animal from going to the right. It is sharp, and to avoid it the animal turned around.

All the orange shapes in the picture feel to me to be connected with what we call the spiritual pursuit, or seeking to know experientially who we are. At first it is something that feels different and provokes interest and wonder. Then it may be suffering of any sort that pushes us to change direction. And then comes the discovery of what was felt from the beginning, which is the sense of the true self, which shifts the focus away from the earthly bond.

Now looking at the beginning of this path again, the first animal, the one in purple, seems to be peaceful and in meditation. All of this happens in his mind. The not-knowing, the intense interest, the change of direction and finally the flight. All these happen on their own, without any effort. It is just the way things happen when you take your hands off them, and allow them to move. This is what I call healing.

This is what this art process does.

My book “Opening Intuitive Flow Through Artwork” will come out soon. It has the method in it and examples from my sessions with people.

134. Diversion

Diversion

Diversion

This entry has nothing to do with the usual direction that this blog takes. It has to do with my support of a friend, Tamara Suttle, who has a blog that supports therapists in private practice with ideas of how to make it work. She has asked me to write a short entry to her “Blog Carnival” about my pricing policy. I have found a way to make it possible for clients to control the amount they spend monthly on therapy, and still pay me the price that makes me feel good.

Here is my little article:

Pricing Policy                                                                       

I had people who came to me and wanted to do therapy but did not have enough income to pay my price. I am sure this is a familiar experience to many readers.

One woman is a good example. She is deeply spiritual. A spiritual therapist who did therapy with her recommended that she come to me. He wrote me an email about her. In the initial meeting I told her about the way I work. I told her what to expect. I heard from her how she felt about her life now, how she trusted me as a result of her former therapist’s recommendation, and how she now felt she could trust me as a result of our conversation. But she did not make enough money to pay my price.

It was her idea that she would take shorter sessions, and then space them to one session every two weeks. I agreed. I knew that the method that I use is very effective and even half an hour every two weeks would have an effect and she would change.

When in sessions, I made sure that we did not waste a minute. We just worked with the method and with what intuition brought into the game. It turned out she had a good skill that could bring her enough money, but she worked at a place that did not pay her enough. She considered opening her own practice, but something in her did not agree with that. She had another calling. After a few sessions she started to trust in what she felt more than before, and she started going to an ashram on weekends. She felt very good there and became more involved. The people of the ashram liked her too and this led quite easily to her decision to live there and devote her life to her spiritual pursuit.

I consider this to have been a successful therapy. We only had some twelve sessions, and they were spread thin along time. But she had accomplished what she came for. She became more clear and able to trust herself. The result was that she changed her life into what was natural for her.

This made me think about possibilities with money and time. Naturally, I do not want to make less than what feels right to me. Usually we decide on a price for our work per hour. If we stick with this, many people who come to us wanting to be helped, knowing our process and willing to do it, will end up not doing it, because they cannot pay our price. We can reduce the price, but then we do not feel good about our work, and we end up struggling for economical stability. But if we charge by the minute, we can let the client choose the length of the session and the frequency, and two things become possible: The client can pay our price, and we make enough money to feel good. I won’t agree to a session that is shorter than half an hour because I know it will be too short. So half an hour is my low limit for the length of a session. And I won’t agree to more than two weeks between sessions because I know that the momentum wanes out and it will be like starting again every session. So these are my limitations. But every arrangement that makes use of anything between these limits and a full session every week, is acceptable to me.

If you want to see how I present this to my potential clients through my website, you can use this link that will take you to the right page.

http://www.psychotherapythroughart.com/page14aa.html

I hope this is helpful to you.

If you are interested in reading more creative ideas about private practice, here are links to more articles by other therapists.

The first link is to the Blog Carnival

 PPIO Blog Carnival #1 – Creative Responses In Building A Private Practice – http://www.allthingsprivatepractice.com/ppio-blog-carnival-creative-responses-in-building-a-private-practice-2/

And here are four more bloggers’ ideas

 Kat Mindenhall, LCSW  – post is Why You Should Reinvent the Wheel – http://www.apeacefullifecounseling.com/creative-private-practice-marketing

Anne Barker, LIMHP, LCSW – post is 6 Creative Comebacks to Combat Your Inner Critic – http://barkertherapyarts.com/self-esteem/

Nina Danhorn, MS, NCC post is Self Care for Healing Professionals – http://www.laskacounseling.com/1/post/2011/10/self-care-for-healing-professionals.html

Kate Daigle, MA, LPC, NCC  – post is Nourishing Growth and Giving Breath to My Hungry Private Practice – http://www.katedaiglecounseling.com/2012/10/25/nourishing-growth-and-giving-breath-to-my-hungry-private-practice/ 


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Entries 1-58 show how I use the method of Intuition Through Art to heal myself from Peripheral Neuropathy.

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