Restoration Therapy: From Deception Toward Wholeness (Paperback)
A scientist might view the quality of life on our planet as improved by technology. Juxtaposing sociological, spiritual, and psychological perspectives to that view, might we question whether we are on a collision course? Are we in crisis, as environmentalists would warn? Has violence escalated to such proportions that no one feels safe anymore? Is the disintegration of the family system and other systems a true reflection of the disintegration of the self?On the other hand, as we enter the new millennium, are we so spiritually bankrupt that the only way we can go is up?More people are in support groups than ever, and there's a support group for anything you can imagine. And if there isn't one for the particular issue you don't want to face alone, the Twelve-Step program seems to work for everything else. So if all else fails, you can start a group of your own. These recovery groups bring about growth and healing as well as a sense of not being alone with problems that had seemed insurmountable.Perhaps, then, there are two forces at work spiritually, those that tear down and those that build up, just as there are in all . I need to be aware of all the things I see disintegrating around me and continue to believe that the search for wholeness has gained as much momentum. My own personal search for wholeness has disclosed the notion of a "spacesuit" life, which is what I will discuss in this book. My professional work as a therapist has shown me that the principles I have learned in searching for my own truth work with my clients. Very little of what I do as a therapist comes because of my degrees and licenses. Most of what helps my clients is the personal growth I have experienced by facing my own denial, fear, rage, shame, guilt, and grief.The insights that I present here come out of my own pain. The concepts are derived directly from my experience, and not from theorizing about how things might have happened. All I know is my reality; it is what happened to me. What has worked to bring light into my darkness brings light to othersas well.I believe that my Higher Power, whom I call God, is love. In His love for me, He has guided me on this journey out of deception toward wholeness, out of bondage into bonding, out of darkness into His marvelous light, out of impressing into expressing, out of denial into truth, out of shame into dignity, out of hell into the Promised Land. He has shown me that as long as I live in the present in His Presence, I have nothing to fear. He has also shown me that I cannot travel this perilous journey without the support of people who will not JUDGE me, give me ADVICE, or BLAME me. He has led me to use this no-JAB approach to help hundreds of others who were as empty, lonely, and afraid as I was.I am not whole or holy yet, but I am not as full of holes as I was. I believe that He who has brought me thus far and who has prompted me to write this book will be faithful to you as well.