We are in the midst of transformative times. The realities of climate disruption, racial, political and idealogical division, and their impact on our personal and collective lives has been intensifying. People are feeling the tension, and experiences of hopelessness, anxiety and depression are rising. As I sit with clients weekly, regardless of the age, I witness the systemic impact and trickling down effect of these times on mental health and well-being. People are stressed by the ever so rapid pace of life, and yet they feel they don’t have enough “time” to meet all that is in front of them. Children and teenagers are expressing to me how they need a new vision…People want to depart from participating in systems that no longer sustain the planet and all the creations living with it; and most feel trapped within those systems…And yet, these times are full of potential for never before have we accomplished what we are seeing today in advancement of human relational capacity.

The Programming is the set of rules, morals, values, behaviors and relational experiences that have conditioned us from the moment we are born. It is the interaction with the external world that we make internal, that shapes us. Our brains encode and retain all the associations we have formed within the social context we have participated in our immediate family, friend groups, education, work place and beyond. The programming comes from our socialization as a human being within our relational interactions, especially within these spheres of society:

• Self, Gender, Race, Animals, Environment/Earth, Economy, Education, Technology, Spiritual traditions, Religion.
  

• How does all of this connect with how I practice Psychotherapy?

When I sit with clients, we explore how societal programming lives within you, and impacts your unique story. When people become more conscious of the reality and impact of social programming in their lives, freedom of choice becomes more available. it’s a sort of waking up. The most liberating impact of this exploration I witness in clients, is letting go of fear. People let go of the conditioned fear because they realize they have choices in how they are going to govern their own Life, what I call Self Governance.  I relate to this process as a sort of upgrading, for it is literally what we do together; upgrade your mind and heart to become more fluid, agile, freer of the interference of stress and anxiety, and uplifted out of depression. As we do so, it promotes and spreads health and vitality internally, and outwardly in your relations with others. A mind can be free inasmuch as a heart can feel. A necessary upgrade in manifesting inspiration for our life is that of tolerating and settling in our challenges, our suffering, and allow spaciousness to build so that we will, through finding more ease and acceptance of our own emotional tendencies and suffering, grow relatedness with that of others.

Neurodiversity

I appreciate the reality of Neurodiversity-an approach to learning, mental health that views various neurological and psychological presentations as the result of normal variations of the human genome. Neurodiversity views Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, OCD, Tourette’s, and other neurological conditions as natural human variations, rather than pathologies or disorders. Neurodiversity rejects the idea that neurological differences need to be, or can be, cured, instead believing them to be authentic forms of human diversity, self-expression, and being. However, our respective neurology, even if accepted as “normal” does get off balance, and causes challenges and disharmony that manifest as symptoms and behavioral challenges that benefit from remediating. In sitting with clients of all ages with various neurological presentations over the years, I have come to embrace the profound contributions that are brought into the world by Neurological Variation.

Clients appreciate when I relate to them outside the pathological model that is prevalent in the fields of psychology and psychiatry. Rather than “fix” and try to fit into a normative model, we focus on making the best of the presentation within various environments; school, career, family, relationships; we find solutions. We explore how The Programming impacts the presenting neurology and vice versa, and how to make the most of one’s wiring, with the idea that fluidity and plasticity are available to us. Clients often come to me stressed, anxious and exhausted because of getting the message that something is wrong with them. In approaching various neurological presentations outside a pathological model, clients get to create a new narrative of themselves, based on acceptance, and they excel. Here is a great article/study on “Focusing on Cognitive Potential as the Bright Side of Mental Atypicality”.