Nine Steps to Freedom

This is a work in progress, but I wanted to put it out there in case it helps someone.

1. Give up. hit bottom. Sit stay heal. Stop look listen. Admit that you are powerless over others and your own life (without a Higher Power) Surrender. Become aware. wake up from the dream and nightmare. Open up your eyes and get on your knees if you're not already there. You may find yourself broken, battered, bruised, and bleeding face down in the dirt. See what a mess you're in and how dysfunction and the false self has been running and ruining your life and world for years or decades

2. Rest, relax, breathe, and accept. Calm abiding. You can stay here as long as you want and need until you are restored in peace, calm, and equanimity. Just sit with yourself (your inner children, inner teens, inner loving parent, and other adult states such as an inner warrior, leader, care giver, artist, teacher, and others), your Higher Power, and natural world. You are here now, and safe in the home of your own body, soul, spirit, and True Self that is all of these and more – we are multitudes.

3. Look up. Come to believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity and well-being. Make a decision to turn your will and life over to the care of a Higher Power of your own understanding. Reach out for help from your H.P. and safe and loving counselors, family, friends, and others.

4. If you really want to dismantle your grievances take it to the next level and focus and concentrate on thoughts, beliefs, opinions, and ideas, (mind) as well as emotions, feelings, perceptions, and sensations (body). Notice how body and mind are interacting (soul), and acknowledge there is a part of you beyond all of this internally and externally that is absolutely and eternally pure and perfect and always resting in infinite love, peace, joy, and beauty (spirit).

Look and listen to your dysfunction, desires, inner child, and intuition. Get curious about what's going on inside you and around you. Seek to understand, accept, and embrace with love. Look at your world and what attracts you: all the bright, shiny, beautiful things you truly love. Then look at what repulses, annoys, or disgusts you. Acknowledge that your ego has usually been in charge with incessant thinking, fear, anxiety, and control.

5. Reach out for help from your Higher power, as well as safe and wise counselors, family, and friends. We can’t heal in isolation, as it is more the problem than the solution. We are seeking to establish interpersonal bonds for those who never had or learned them from their parents and family, or re-establish them for those whose parents or family destroyed them long ago. We must find safe  and loving people we can be vulnerable with, and share our pain and suffering with them to let it go.

6. Take stock. In Twelve Step this is “making a searching and fearless moral inventory”. Tony A, the founder of Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families stated this as “Made a searching and blameless inventory of our parents, because in essence, we had become them”. This isn’t to shame or blame ourselves, but an act of compassion and self-honesty to release blame and shame and be responsible for our actions.

7. Acknowledge and admit your mistakes to those you have harmed when possible and appropriate. Apologize and make amends for where you have wronged others. We would certainly want others to do this for us. The hard part is when others don’t respond in kind even when they should. Here we must take the higher road and practice humility in silence. Hopefully we won’t have to take this step often. It is a very valuable step however, as we tire of having to make apologies and amends, so work hard to avoid mistakes and mis-steps.

8. Follow-up, keep it up, pray up, give up, diligently, vigilantly. Stay awake and aware. We can do this daily and/or weekly by taking some time to review what has been happening and how we responded to it. What were the highs to celebrate and the lows to learn from. We also use this as a planning session to set our intentions for the coming days and week.

9. Service. One of the best ways to get out of ourselves and our problems is to focus on helping others for awhile. Being of service with compassion and empathy is very healing if done mindfully and lovingly. This also acknowledges our true place in the world as a part of rather than apart from all others, life, and creation.

Prayer and meditation: Intimate and constant conscious contact. Commune with Higher Power (Great Spirit, Over Soul, Eternal ONE) and its infinite love, peace, joy, beauty, and being. Calm abiding meditation is step 2, insight meditation is step 4.


True Self/False Self

True Self Development

It seems the best explanation why we have difficulties in life is because of our beginnings. As a child we needed to be free to be willful and difficult, demanding and aggressive, and intolerant and selfish. If this was allowed, we could develop a strong sense of self before we had to comply to others wants and needs. Donald Winnicott, an English pediatrician and child psychiatrist was one of the first to fully understand that we needed this time to be wholly and fully ourselves to develop our True Self before conforming to others wishes. 

The True Self of the infant eats, sleeps, cries, and laughs when it wants to, not to bargain for love or in the service of others schedules. Gradually and willingly, we could then learn to submit to the demands of others and the world. Thus, the false or dutiful self that evolved in submission to others and the world was not a problem if the child had a time when it could break all the rules and do exactly as it pleased for a time.

False Self Development

But what if our father was a raging alcoholic, mother was anxious and depressed, or another child was sickly and demanded all the attention? Rather than our caregivers and families adapting to our needs, we had to adapt to theirs in order to be loved and cared for, or to avoid criticism, condemnation, or abuse. Unfortunately, many, perhaps most of us have had to conform to others too early and too much. We felt we had to sacrifice our authenticity to maintain a connection with parents, siblings, and others. 

We become co-dependent and deferred to others all too often. It is as if we put on a mask and armor and took up shields to defend ourselves from the drama and trauma around us. Some ran or hid from problems in youth (flight), others fought back in the only ways they knew how (fight), and some froze in place hoping to be spared or waiting for the storms and battles to pass (freeze). More about these coping skills further on.

Hope, Help, and Healing

The problematic behaviors of the maladapted child was simply a cry for help, and for the sense of security, safety, and love missing from the family environment that was inadequate or ruptured. Fortunately, good therapy, support groups, and sometimes family or friends can replace the accepting and unconditionally loving environment we may have missed as child to now build a strong and resilient True Self. When we find safe places and people we can be vulnerable and share our dark, disturbing, and difficult thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors, and still be loved. We can express all our grief, depression, and dysfunction in a safe and secure way to rediscover all the joy, happiness, and well-being buried underneath.

 True Self or False Self

The playful environment such as when we are engaged in art, sports, and hobbies lets us feel spontaneous, creative, and genuinely alive. This is important throughout life as seen in adult games, roles, and institutions. Winnicott also believed therapy should be a playful environment of kindness, freedom, and cheer to be effective. The healthy child brings its spontaneous True Self to others, unless they find it unsafe or frightening to do so.  In that case the child lives from the false self, pretending to be what others want them to be. This can become so entrenched that the True Self gets buried deeply under fear, shame, or abuse so the child and everyone around them comes to think of the false self they present and the masks they wear as who they really are.

The ”I” of the Storm

We call the selfish “me” and false self ego, a word with a negative feel to it, as if it is a problem to be rid of, yet it actually takes a good sense of self to let the false self go. There is a dark side however, when the ego becomes a control freak willing to do anything to get its way (egomaniac). The deeply selfish part of us is unfortunately incorrigible, and every effort to overcome it only strengthens its grip. It is impossible to improve, defeat, correct, or perfect it, but we can transcend it. What is beyond? A higher and profoundly compassionate and wise orientation and values accessed through a Higher Power, order, law, and truth that we can choose to work in us and through us, yet impossible for us to create or control.

Personal Separation Bias

It is easy to think of “me” as a single entity, but when we look closely, we find a multitude of pieces and parts mentally and physically. The body has arms, legs, torso, and head. Similarly, we have a multitude of perceptions, emotions, feelings, and thoughts to contend with so it is only natural for us to see a multiplicity in most everything. Therefore, it seems our nature is to separate things into a vast variety of subjects and objects, yet our true and deepest nature looks beyond and finds all things in a solemn and sacred communion.

Ego and false self constantly and very intelligently seek to convince us of a “me versus them” duality and reality. Our bodies also conspire to separate us from others and the world as our eyes, ears, nose, and hands work to locate things “out there.” We end up defending “our things” and “our body” from seemingly hostile outer forces. Our hope and work is to turn things around and merge the diversity and dualities of ourselves and our world back into a loving community and “The Eternal ONE” of our Higher Power.

Many Cognitive and Emotional Biases

Not only do we identify with compulsive and often negative thinking, but the mind plays tricks on us in many ways. Cognitive biases are a very real example. This site shows fifty common cognitive biases, a Wikipedia site lists perhaps two hundred in many categories. This is also true of emotions, as the stronger they are, the more power they have over us. When we take a step back and observe the voice in our heads and feelings in our bodies (as in prayer and meditation), their power over us is diminished and a higher level of consciousness is realized. The mind and emotions are an excellent tool if used properly, but too often we don't use them, they use us in service of often ancient and unconscious imprinting. This is mind and emotions as master, yet the key is not to master them, but to put them in service to higher good, law, and order.

Healing Self and Others

We bring our wounded, lonely, abused, and neglected self, and work to find our compassionate caring and kind self, and give ourselves space and time for healing. Further on, as we become stronger, wiser, and healthier in body and mind, we find connection and unity with our fellows, life, creation, and Higher Power that allow us to touch all the love, peace, joy, and beauty the world has to offer. We must get to the root of the matter, and work to discover, explore, clean out, and treat our psychic wounds with caring, love, and compassion to reach healing and wholeness.  This is rarely a "one and done", rather a life-long process and practice. 

I am multitudes

Another aspect of this welcome and wonderful transformation is finding that as our world expands, the small scared, and sorrowful self expands as well, until it takes in everything. “I am multitudes” (Walt Whitman). Our solid, solitary, and static sense of self melts into the dynamic flow of spiritual, physical, and energetic flux. Just as a part of each of us is a child, a teen, and an adult, part of us can be laughing, playing, dancing like a child, another part can be anxious, rebellious, and wild like a teen, while another part is caring, kind, courageous, and confident as a healthy adult. Likewise, a part of us can be reaching out in gratitude, joy, and love. Unfortunately, part of us has our face in our hands, sobbing with overwhelming sorrow for all the suffering in life across the world and across the ages.

Isolation and Relationships

Alternately, being self-absorbed in mindless, worrisome mental movies leads to many mental and physical illnesses as we become plagued by anxiety and fear, depression, and hopelessness. The bottom line is we can't be in relationship all by ourselves. Why are relationships important? Because they are what give our lives purpose and meaning. This is not to say alone time isn’t important, it is, but everything in moderation.

 Relationships Help and Heal

 Science is now proving this ancient truth as an ongoing study since 1938 by Harvard University of adult development found supportive relationships are a life saver and affect health, happiness, and longevity even more than smoking and alcoholism. Other studies also find they are as healing as diet and exercise. One Harvard study director likes to say there are three things that make all the difference, relationships, relationships, relationships. When the researchers asked what people were most proud of, the most common response was caring for others and causes bigger than themselves. This welcome finding points to the power of service in expanding the small self to encompass others.

 One Buddhist story tells how a follower asks the Buddha If fellowship is an important part of the path of enlightenment. He answers that fellowship is the whole of the path. So how can we move from the small self to the large and in fact infinite self? Many use meditations focus on the present moment to soften and dissolve the solid and separate self. The skillful means and benefits have been expanded and refined over thousands of years so are definitely worth investigating and trying.

Others find kind and caring family, friends, therapists, and supportive communities most helpful. These safe and loving people and places allow the interpersonal bonds that were broken long ago to be mended that we may at long last discover and resolve the trauma, neglect, and abuses of the past. We are wise to make the time and effort to seek out and utilize the tools and techniques that help us feel the deep heartfelt connection and affinity with others, life, and creation to counteract the cultural and societal calls for more, more, more, and me, myself, and mine.

Home of True Self in Higher Power

This “Home” is the ground of being from which we came and will one day return, yet the True Self never moves from this place beyond the illusion, dream, and play of dualities in the world, and can be realized in moments of stillness and repose such as in prayer and meditation. The outside world is certainly important and must be dealt with on a daily basis, but we are severely limited if we live as if the external world is the only reality available to us. We can describe the physical outer world as the relative, finite, and historical dimension, but there is another realm always accessible to us of primary importance and reality, that of an ultimate, absolute, and infinite spiritual reality.  

Hard Work Ahead

How can we reach our nature of infinite power, presence, and wisdom, as well as love, peace, joy, and beauty? We work to bring love and healing to all the dark and desperate places in us that gave rise to and sustain our false self. It won't be fast, easy, or painless, but you are worth it! It may take a lifetime of working through our problems with safe, wise, and loving people to build or restore the interpersonal bonds lost in youth and beyond so that we have a strong and solid enough sense of self to truly let it our hurts go and bask in the light and love of our Higher Power and True Self. 

The Best of Both Worlds

This is the awesome and incredible paradox of life. We are flesh and blood, skin and bone, heart and mind, body and soul, while our ultimate, absolute, and infinite nature is pure energy or spirit and we can live in both worlds at the same time. The "worldliness" of daily life with all it's joys and sorrows, thoughts, emotions, and feelings can co-exist with the infinite, energetic spiritual world through awe and wonder, imagination and curiosity, as well as prayer and meditation (living prayer and moving meditation). It is possible to stand with both feet firmly grounded on our dear Mother Earth with our hearts in loving communion with all persons and life while our minds acknowledge and enjoy our spiritual reality. 

This is our wondrous place in the universe, feet on the ground and heads in the stars and heavens above. This is also "The Great Armor" that helps us recognize that from the ultimate perspective life can easily be seen as an illusion, dream, or construct so that we can see pain, problems, and suffering as clouds or obscurations blocking our view of an absolute reality. Should a loved one die or other great calamity befall us, it is all too real on the relative level, but we can always take solace that another pure, perfect, and painless dimension is available to us any time or anywhere. The story goes that the Christians in Rome went singing as they were sent to the lions in the coliseum, this is likely why. 

It Works if You Work It

Of course, we would prefer to avoid the pain suffering and work this requires, but these wounds will never heal until we do. They will in fact haunt us and unconsciously poison and pollute many other areas of life if we deny and ignore them. We must face the facts and feelings. Face them and feel them to heal them. And not in isolation, as that's what got us here. We shut down and closed-up long ago, and it is only by opening up to safe and wise people and sharing our deepest suffering and pain and we can move past it. We must heal our relative, finite, and limited self to access our absolute, infinite, and unlimited self.

Embrace the Paradox

Embracing the paradox of life helps keep us humble. Our 80 or 90 years is everything to us, but almost nothing on scale of the universe. It's like the earth with its vast lands, seas, and sky. Then there's life with its vast diversity, abundance, intelligence, tenacity, and beauty. But when the sun goes down and we look up to the night sky we see our whole world is little more than a dust mode in a hurricane. This can make us feel like a drop in the ocean, but please remember we are also the ocean in a drop, and so heirs to all the power, presence, and wisdom of the universe through a Higher Power of our own understanding. 

Dismantling Me, Myself, and I

What is this big deal “me” that we get so upset about anyways? Classical Eastern philosophy sees us as the five skandas (heaps), the five mental and physical aggregates of craving and clinging.  They start with the gross material forms such as our body and all things, our things in particular. As you know, we can get quite upset when somebody messes with our things. Next are our perceptions or sensations which we receive from our senses. Perceptions lead to our basic intuitive and instinctive emotions, which can be conscious or unconscious, and unconscious particularly if we have been through traumatic experiences that force them to be repressed.

On the same level, emotions lead to a wide range of feelings that are also affected by the next level, that of mental activities and forms; thinking. Thoughts include beliefs, opinions, and ideas. The fifth and final level is that of consciousness itself and all that entails. Suppressing or denying any of these is like swimming upstream, as it leaves you tired and stressed, and eventually we may drown in them. Now that we have dismantled the self, how do we get put back together again? In service of Higher Power, truth, law, and good. 

Compulsive Thinking Creates False Self 

In his book Practicing the Power of Now author Eckart Tolle states "Our innermost invisible and indestructible essence, our true nature, is being."  Being can also be seen as the “Supreme Being” (Higher Power), but without the religious overtones. He goes on to say; "The inability to feel this gives rise to illusions of separation. Fear arises and conflicts become the norm. The greatest obstacle to the reality of your connectedness is identification with mind and compulsive thinking.  It creates a false mind made self that casts a shadow of fear and suffering, an opaque screen of concepts, labels, word, judgments, and definitions that block all true relationships between you and yourself, your fellow man, nature, and God."

No Self, No Suffering

Much of ancient Eastern philosophy works to achieve self-lessness or ego-lessness. This is stated simply as “No self, no suffering”. The hope is that by dismantling and leaving personal concerns behind, we may enter into a sacred communion with all others, life, and creation. The four noble truths acknowledge how first, life has suffering. Second, that clinging to the self is the cause of our pain. Third, as we come to “know thyself” and care for it, it loosens its grip on us as our  wise and True Self emerges. Last, living in line with greater good is a possible, doable, and highly satisfying way of life (see Noble Eight-Fold Path). This is another of life’s paradoxes, and although it may seem simple, it is often not fast or easy finding and keeping balance amidst life’s difficulties.

Emptying the Mind

Another primary and useful Classical Eastern teaching is shunyata, or emptiness. This is seen two ways. First, we seek to empty the mind of obsessive and compulsive thinking by focus and meditation on simple sensations like the breath, or mantras (key words) to coax the mind to rest and relax. Here we can also find a deep, calm, and pervasive communion with the Infinite that shows us we are not bound by the dramas and traumas of the physical external world, and experience a profound oneness and peace beyond and within that is always present, peaceful, and accessible.

Empty of Personal or Permanent self

The other aspect of shunyata is that we are “empty” of any solid, singular, or permanent personal reality, as all things are contingent on all other things, so that in truth we are all completely interdependent beings. Thich Nhat Hanh taught that a piece of paper contains not only the tree it was made from, but the rain, soil, and sunshine that made the tree, as well as the logger, his family, and the breakfast he ate the day he took the tree. So too, and so true for each of us. This shows that we too are a necessary part of all that is, but completely interdependent with all life and creation.

Taming, Training, and Transforming False Self

A powerful and moving image is Manjusri the Buddha (enlightened one) of wisdom and insight that uses a flaming sword to cut through ignorance and false beliefs of ego to realize transcendent wisdom free of the entanglements of self-created obstacles. He is often depicted riding a ferocious blue lion representing the wild and untamed mind. We can manifest the spirit of Manjusri as we do our best to cut through illusions and egotism to tame, train, and transform ourselves.

The Ancient Paths of Wisdom and Loving Service

It is worth mentioning that of the two main schools of eastern enlightenment, Mahayana and Vipassana), the first seeks personal freedom through egolessness based on self-discipline and meditation. The second path finds devotees vowing to stay engaged in the world of sorrows in order to help others toward their own freedom and enlightenment. These persons become a “Bodhisattva,” meaning one with an awakened heart and/or mind. Both are worthy pursuits, yet the hope is that all of us will eventually find peace and wisdom as well as heed the call of compassion and engage in loving service to help those in need.

Caring for Pain and Suffering

Just as “We are multitudes” of archetypes, personalities, and energies we must care for, we are also wise to acknowledge the difficult parts such as pain, suffering, anger, and sadness as necessary parts of us in this whole, so that we may accept and embrace them rather than trying to deny, diminish, or destroy them. They need to be heard and held like a sick, tired, or cranky child until they can relax and rest. Even the negative, difficult, dirty, smelly, and embarrassing parts of us deserve to be loved and cared for as much as any other part, perhaps more! They will likely be less troublesome for us if we do honor them in this way.

Upside Down and Backwards

Consider the concept that we are not a physical beings having a spiritual experience, rather spiritual beings having a physical experience. This might seem upside down and backwards, but the truth is that is how we have been living all along, so it's high time to turn things around. Just as we actually receive an upside down and backwards image from the lenses of our eyes that the brain turns upside right, we are wise to also flip our own view and experience of the world from a purely physical and self-involved one to one of interdependence and spiritual connection. This is true freedom, and one of the keys to finding our True Self.

Fluid and Dynamic Self

Another way we distort reality is to see things as solid and unchanging. We like to think our bodies and health will stay good through-out our lives, but old age catches up with us all eventually. Same with our possessions and even our beliefs and opinions, yet if they never changed, how boring would that be? So, we find that life and everything in it is actually fluid and dynamic, and that makes life a lot more fun, interesting, and precious. The key is to acknowledge, accept, and embrace change rather than try and hold on to things as they are with a death grip. We will find life to be ever juicier and more alive.

Perception Creates Reality

One way to realize this is to recognize that we each create our own reality as we process sensory input in our minds. The world seems so real to us with all its colors, textures, sounds, smells, and flavors to enjoy, but it’s really all taking place in our heads. Image how a bat or dolphin uses sonar to “see” in the dark, or a tree that feels it’s way through life. The point is to stretch our imagination occasionally so as not to be stuck in our own ways of thinking and feeling so that new doors will open in our minds and hearts. Knowing our experience is a fabrication and construct can make all the difference and give us great peace through adversity and change.

Step Back and Find Freedom 

Taking a step back to simply observe not only our world, but ourselves, all our actions, thinking, beliefs, and opinions also has a very freeing effect. Normally we feel caught up in the drama and storylines going on in and around us, yet simply observing non-judgmentally is liberation. The outside world and other people seem to “make us” angry, frustrated, depressed, etc., yet from the viewpoint of observer we can see it all as child’s play, very energetic and dramatic, but we can choose how we will react.

In Conclusion

How can we then reconcile “no self” of “no self, no suffering”? Also, where is the “spiritual self” in communion with Higher Power? And where is the soul, what we consider the best part of our human self that loves children, flowers, and sunsets, and feels compassion, caring, and kindness for people, animals, all life, and creation? It’s all True Self, and it’s a mystery. Even the mean, angry, and evil side of us, it’s all in there. Even more mysterious,  awesome, wonderful, amazing, and beautiful, but isn’t that how life should be? That’s the True-True. A beautiful mystery. Enjoy it!

Higher Power, The Force, God Part 2

The Super Powers (From Higher Power)

True Higher Power, presence, and wisdom also entails unconditional love, as from a loving parent or friend; totally unselfish, a true servant, leader, and protector. This love can be considered a super power, and more than able to overcome crippling anger, hate, jealousy, and other problems in the world. We believe there are many of these “super powers” available to us, such as peace, joy, beauty, one-ness, wholeness, and holiness. These can aid us on the intimate and ultimate level as we focus and meditate on them in the realm of their absolute, pure, and perfect nature on the spiritual level, but also on the relative level as we seek out, embrace, and enjoy the these and other “super” blessings in or lives and world.

This is where we may come into communion with them through communion with our Higher Power, Oversoul, and Great Spirit. We can also embrace and enact them on the relative level as we see them at large and in action through-out the world and in our daily lives. Nature is a good example, as peace, love, joy, beauty, and so on are self-evident in the workings and wonders of mother/father nature. For more on accessing and utilizing Higher Powered super powers in your life please see the Super Powers Sanity File.

Prayer and Meditation

Too often love and goodness can seem far, far away, but there is no blessing 2.0, we are all equally and outrageously blessed at all times and in all places. It is when we take time in prayer and meditation, we hear a still small voice calling us from deep within. This is the voice of our True Self, True Home, and Higher Power. Prayer and meditation are a key to this all-important connection and very helpful ways to experience true grace. To learn more please look to the Sanity Files on prayer and meditation.

Self Forgiveness and Love

It is very easy for us to feel bad about ourselves because we haven’t got it all figured out by now and gotten it all together. The fact is the modern world is so complicated, difficult, and crowded that most people are struggling and suffer from anxiety, loneliness, inadequacy, and depression. Brene Brown tells us ours is the most in debt, depressed, medicated, and obese society ever. This is another reason a good relationship with our Higher Power is so important. Through prayer, meditation, journaling, and other paths we can come to see and feel our Higher Power as a loving friend that created, sustains, and supports us despite any worldly conditions, and knows everything about us in intimate detail.

Building Your Sanity Files

All these paths to our Higher Power allow us access to all the power, presence, wisdom, beauty, and other aspects of The Infinite. It’s like a computer, as nothing is going to happen until it gets plugged into a power source, gets turned on, and boots up to a good application. Prayer, meditation, journaling, nature, and other paths are how we can get plugged in, turned on, and working. Unfortunately, all too often the negativity and dysfunction of life corrupt us like computer files, so building your own “Sanity Files” and finding your own Higher Power (source) is all important and necessary to deal with the problems and difficulties of life.

A Power Greater

For those that have a real problem with the idea of God, or Higher Power, some find "A Power Greater" works for them. For many, that "Power Greater" is their recovery or support group, or a loving family member or friend who exemplifies God's infinite power, presence, and wisdom in tangible ways. We often find these people are our angels and God's eyes and ears, hands, and feet. For a short post click here.

Inner Child

Since our view of our Higher Power good or bad was created and cemented as a child by the example our parents set, our childhood is another very important place to slowly work to understand and transform ourselves and our situation. For help in this endeavor, we recommend the Inner Child Sanity File. Here we can recapture the creative, authentic, joyful, playful, imaginative, and loving child often hidden deep inside.

As wonderful an idea as this seems, we must be cautious, as the inner child may be holding onto intense anger, fear, grief, and sadness that can overwhelm us if we aren't ready. This is good reason to have a Loving Higher Power and Inner Parent to hold our hand and help us face the difficulties of our past. It also helps to recognize that our transgressors were most often also wounded as children and longing for love and closure. This is not to condone their behavior, but to allow a measure of forgiveness to lessen our burden.

Inner Parent

Another amazing source of kindness, caring, and love for us is our own Inner Parent. Just like our concept of a Higher Power, the inner voice and opinion of ourselves was inherited from our parents and other authority figures, so healing this internal entity is also of the great importance as many parents were highly critical, neglectful, or abusive in response to their upbringing or difficult life situations. For help in this essential endeavor we recommend the Inner Parent Sanity File.

Once this also crucial relationship is recovered, it is as if a loving Higher Power takes our hand on one side and a Loving Inner Parent can takes our other hand to guide us on to discover, tend, and recover from our dis-ease, disorders, and dysfunction to enjoy a fully functioning, loving, and satisfying life. This journey will not be fast, easy, or painless, but you are worth it! As we build a loving relationship with our Higher Power, Inner Parent, and Inner Child, we find places we can go to rest and recover our mental, physical, and spiritual joy, vitality, and vigor.

Nature Sanity File

Nature is also saving grace for us as we so much cherish time spent in nature. Everything in the wild feels blessed, sacred, and holy. Wherever we look we see great beauty, love, and peace. Often when we share this aspect of our recovery, people tell us how much nature means to them too. Nature is a symphony, a work of art, and a feast all at once, and for all the senses. For more "natural" healing see the Mother/Father Nature Sanity File

Healing Community

If the concepts of Inner Child and Inner Parent are foreign to you or a bit confusing, check out the Twelve Step Recovery Sanity File for clarity and inspiration. Alone we are on some level deeply flawed, broken corrupt, tainted, fallen, and tarnished. Yet on an even deeper level infinitely blessed, divine, and perfect. Twelve Step is a great way to find and build a loving and supportive community, a new family of choice (rather than chance) that is willing to help us find, nurture, and welcome our True Self. We find this path incredibly healing and healthy, so urge you to take a good look.

If we can come to a place where we see Higher Power as the benevolent presence behind creation, we can find forgiveness for our anxious worries and look past the chaos, sorrows, and ugliness of the world to rest in the immense love, peace, joy, and beauty that is always there for us. Trying to go it alone is very common, and often why we feel so much loneliness and strife. Spending time with wise and loving family, friends, and therapists can be very helpful in building friendships and interpersonal bonds that help and heal us in many ways.

Your Inner Hero

Another "personae" we also recognize as a part of our human nature is the courageous, powerful, and perhaps best part of us that we recommend you explore in the Hero's Journey Sanity File. This aspect of our True Self stands up for us, gives unconditionally, and bravely fights for what is right. This inner hero has many super powers such as love, kindness, and compassion. Again, these powers are not self-powered, but "higher powered" through an intimate and reverent relationship with our Higher Power.

Your True Self

These relationships are pivotal keys to having a safe, welcoming, and nurturing place to move forward in our lives with joy, purpose, and passion. We find we can alternate back and forth between Mother Nature, Higher Power, our Inner Wonder Child, Adult, Loving Inner Parent, and Inner Hero as needed to live a full and complete life. We have many wonderful parts as Walt Whitman stated in his poem Song of Myself, "I am large, I contain multitudes".

Taken together, all of these aspects of our basic nature constitute what can be seen as the True Self, the whole and complete self that can relate to life in any possible way. For more on this exciting and fulfilling way of looking at the ourselves, please check out the True Self Sanity File. You may find other aspects of your True Self you wish to add, and we say go for it! This model is one that works for us, but what is most important is what works for you.

Perhaps the best part of us is on our knees praying for God's will for us and the power to carry it out. God's will, God's power, not ours. We strive to become a better person by being vigilant, by staying awake to our True Self in alignment with Higher Power. It can be hard in the beginning like changing any habit or strengthening muscles, but once we learn to really get into the flow of grace, we can rest, rest in God, and learn on god's strength, power, compassion, and wisdom.

Conversations with God

Another super tool for getting in touch with Higher Power is Journaling (Sanity File). We write out all our doings, issues, and struggles good and bad. We find it takes the weight off our shoulders, hearts, and minds to leave it on the pages. This can also be true of prayer, meditation, and all our "conversations" with God. All journaling takes is a simple spiral bound notebook from most any store. Some prefer fancy leather bound and engraved journals, but this can feel intimidating, so might hold back the flow.

As we journal, we imagine speaking with a best friend. An incredible friend who created, sustains, and supports us year to year, day to day, and moment to moment on every level from the amazing functioning of body and mind, to the laws and seasons of nature. Some have written dozens of journals, and so created an excellent relationship with their maker they feel deeply. Just a few lines a day or week can lead to great inner peace.

Some might find it silly to "talk" to God in this way, but we don't have to imagine Higher Power as understanding our words specifically, yet can still believe there is an understanding of the intention, and meaning. It's like when we talk to our babies, pets, plants, and other things. There is an energy and spirit there we feel they get on some level. Not by the words, but from a deeper pre-verbal place. Even if our plants, pets, or Higher Power don't get the good energy, we do!

Ancient Eastern Wisdom

The Eastern Wisdom Sanity File explores how our minds create and control our reality. For this reason, we are wise to understand how our minds function so that we can master our minds rather than have our minds be our master. This is also covered in the prayer and meditation files, but Eastern wisdom adds the benefit of thousands of years of insight, learning, and practice.

This path teaches that us that we must first tame our minds to then train and transform it with the ultimate goal of acquiring a "Sacred Outlook". This is real transformation, to see the hand and spirit of God in everyone and everything. To look into every face and see the face of God, and to gaze back into God's eyes with confidence that the greatest good and highest law is at work at all times, in all places, and in all things, however screwed up and awful things may appear.

Middle Eastern Wisdom

The Middle Eastern Sanity File looks the the positive attributes of Christ consciousness and celebrates the ecstatic beauty and liberation of the poetry of the Sufi philosopher and Muslim scholar Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Mohammed Rumi). We hope to expand this file soon.

Western Wisdom

Of the course the west has added much wisdom, insight, and healing from Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, on to modern thinkers such as Erick Erickson, Joseph Campbell, and Abraham Maslow, to living legends of Matthew Fox, Eckhart Tolle, and Brene Brown. To access these and other westerners, please check out the Western Wisdom Sanity File.

Sacred Science

God's fingerprints are all over creation, and we so much enjoy sharing ways that we have seen the "evidence". A great way to see how God has woven infinite intelligence, beauty, and wonder into the natural world is to check out Sacred Geometry. Science has unraveled this mystery for us, all the way back to the beginning of creation, Artists and musicians have also been engaging mind and heart to inspire us to embrace and cherish our dear mother earth and our wild and beautiful individual natures.

It's All About Love

Seeing how beautiful and hospitable the universe is for life and humans, we see our Higher Power as loving also. A flight of imagination took our focus and emphasis on love to the extreme, considering Love Force as the fundamental and unifying theory of the universe. It may be a stretch of the imagination, but a fun and interesting one we hope you find enjoyable and inspiring.

Music - More Than a Feeling

The Music Sanity File has a section just for Higher Power and Love with many wonderful songs to share and enjoy. It is one of the most beautiful, touching, and powerful ways we can stir our passions to really feel the love, peace, joy and other emotions that help us be happy. We highly recommend making your own music files and adding to them regularly as new songs come out and classics are rediscovered. Ours are sorted into files of love, Higher Power, every day, rock, relaxing, inspire, blues, dance, joyous, and best songs to fit our mood and need.

Super Sayings and Slogans

Sayings and slogans are short pithy statements that can say a lot in just a few words. This is another great tool to have so, we highly recommend jotting down your favorites and building your own super sayings and slogans file today. The Super Sayings and Slogans Sanity File has our favorites and has parts dedicated to Higher Power listed just after the LOVE and FIRE (passion) sections. Many of the other Sanity Files and posts also have aspects of Higher Power in them as all are connected and interrelated in many ways.

"Today my birth is fruitful. My human life is justified. Today I am born into the family of the enlightened ones." Shantideva

Triune Persona

 

Three Part Persona

Staying in your “Right” Mind (True/Balanced/Inclusive/Infinite Mind)

 

Adult Children of Alcoholics: Higher Power/Nature         

Christian Holy Trinity: Holy Ghost

Triune Brain: Primordial/Prehistoric/Primeval/Solitary/Competitive/Cold Blooded-Brain Stem                                                                                                                                                             

Plato Tripartite Soul/Psyche: Eros - Appetitive/Physical/Instinctual Desires: Drives Us to Eat, Have Sex and Protect – Feet, Legs, Genitals, Gut, Organs - The Black Horse

Chakras: Safety, Survival, Stability, Sustenance. Sensuality, Sexuality Strength, Power, Determination - Coccyx/Sacrum/Solar Plexus 

Freud: Id - "I Want" Basic Biological Innate Urges/Desires/ Irrational Impulses of Sex/Aggression/etc. "Pleasure Principle" Seeks Immediate Gratification. Mostly Unconscious. Body/Mind Energy Source

Maslow Needs: Safety: Family and Social Stability, Work, Health, Resources, Property.                      Physiological: Air, Water, Shelter, Food, Clothing, Rest, Reproduction

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ACA: Inner Child/Children                            

Christian Holy Trinity: The Son 

Triune Brain: Old/Mammalian/Emotional/Spiritual/Social/Affectionate - Limbic System/Paleo-Cortex

                                                                                                                                                                    Plato: Thymos - Spiritual/Emotional: Emotions Drive Actions - Chest/Heart/Lungs - The White Horse  

Chakras: Love, Trust, Sincerity, Acceptance, Compassion, Kindness, Peace, Communication, Creativity, Inspiration, Honesty, Purity Expression - Heart/Lungs/Throat 

Freud: Superego - "I Should" Ego Ideal and Moral Guardian. Strives for Perfection. Inhibitions Acquired from Parents. Becoming One's Conscience. Mainly at Preconscious (Easily Recalled) Level. 

Maslow Needs: Love and Belonging: Friendship, Family, Intimacy, Community, Connections

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ACA: Adult (Inner Parent/Teacher/Leader/Elder/Hero)          

Christian Holy Trinity: The Father

Triune Brain: New/Rational/Logical Awareness - Neo-Cortex

Plato: Logos - Rational/Logical: Seeks Truth & Reason by Facts & Arguments. The Charioteer

Chakras: Higher Consciousness, Knowledge, Spirituality, Self-Realization Intuition, Openness, Imagination, Self-Reflection, Visualization - Crown/Third Eye

Freud: Ego - "I Will" (Parent/Adult) "Reality Principle" Executive Mediator Between Id's Instinctual Impulses and Superego's Parentally Acquired Inhibitions. Deals with Reality and Rationality. Operates Mainly at Aware Conscious Level but also Preconscious. 

Maslow Needs Hierarchy: Self-Actualization/Realization: Morality, Creativity, Spontaneity, Purpose, Acceptance, Meaning. Esteem: Confidence, Achievement, Recognition, Respect, Status, Individuality

 

 

A Power Greater

 Many people have difficulty identifying with a Higher Power. It seems there are just too many images of an angry, jealous, punishing "Old man in the sky." Personally, I left that God behind and now have a relationship with a loving, caring one. For those who don't, a power greater than ourselves can be a good fit. This power could be as simple as one other person, a group of people, even something like nature. Alcoholics Anonymous people have a fun way of looking at this as GOD translates to a "Group Of Drunks." Whatever it takes to get us out of ourselves and into something bigger and better. It's claustrophobia: trapped and alone. Reaching out, we find we aren't trapped or alone. A tree has no choice, it is stuck were it's planted. We aren't, we can go to meetings, call people, or "meet up" and make friends through hobbies and common interests. This power of community I call "exponential synergy," as we hook up with others to multiply "The interaction of two or more so that their combined effect is greater than the individual." So take a little time, consider a power greater than yourself, and how you can plug into it's healing and beneficial flow.

Inner Child Part 2

 For part 1 of Inner Child click here.

Language nutrition

A pivotal aspect of childhood is language. One study found poor children heard an average of 11 million words by age three. Working class kids heard more than twice as much at 24 million. Yet children of professionals heard a whopping 43 million words, almost four times as much! By school age the poor kids were two years behind in language development, by age eight three and one half years behind. The gap grows because the less words they knew, the less they could figure out on their own.

Low exposure to language was starving those kids development and in fact is called language nutrition. This situation also translated to doing well in many other areas of life, such as finishing high school and going on to college. The fortunate kids were four times more likely to graduate college, get higher skilled jobs, and earn higher wages. They were also significantly more healthy overall through-out their lives. It wasn't mentioned in the study, but we expect it also reduced their chance of divorce, alcoholism, drug addiction, and health problems mental and physical. 

The good news is that some of the poor parents that spoke to, played with, taught, and read to their kids just as much as the professionals, and their children were right there at the top of the scale despite poverty. Also if the professionals didn't interact with their children as much (low word count, play, reading, teaching etc.) their language and other areas suffered just like the others. 

Life and love nutrition

What does this mean to you now? That no matter what your upbringing was, you can give yourself the attention, acceptance, affirmation, affection, and appreciation "nutrition" you need, now and for the rest of your life, so that your quality of life improves in all areas just as it did for these kids. So, as we go through the different areas of opportunity try and think of how you can support your inner child to grow, mature, and thrive so that you too can achieve your fullest potential and happiness. 

Coping strategies

What if the home of our youth was not a safe, welcoming, and comforting place? What if instead  it was a place of stress, abandonment, and abuse? Unfortunately for many the world become dark and frightening. It is said we have the choices of fight, flight, freeze or fawn. In brief, the "fighters" act out family dysfunction, frustration, and rage they feel in the home and consequently within themselves.

The "flyers" run from trouble, unable to deal with it with a child's limited resources. The "freezers" run too, but into themselves as they shut down and close off from the confusion and angst they feel. The "fawners" tend to seek love and belonging by people pleasing. None of these youngsters gets the opportunity to be themselves, tell their truth, and feel the care and comfort they really need.

Inherited dysfunction

These troubled kids are usually mistaken as the source of the problem rather than a symptom of the family dysfunction. Jack Kornfield, a prominent psychologist and spiritual sage says he has never seen a youngster with a drug problem that came from a healthy family. The point is that if you feel like you were one of these kids growing up, you have that inner child in you now longing for resolution and rest.

This is vitally important as the unresolved issues of youth tend to poison and infect our thoughts, emotions, and actions through-out our lives unless we find the help and healing that we need. Only then can we move forward with the wisdom and intelligence of an adult coupled with the joy, authenticity, sincerity, spontaneity, creativity, and energy of youth.  

Childhood roles

Many children fall into roles within the family such as scapegoat, sports star, sickly child, or troublemaker. These roles may put us in a box of perception that is hard to maintain and break free from. For example, the star student may become exhausted trying to keep up excellent grades and suffer humiliation and disgrace should they fail to measure up. Life is much too fluid and mysterious to impose defining roles on children (or adults). Better to let them change and grow through various roles as they grow and mature.

Archetypic roles

Another very interesting perspective is to view classic archetypal personas and see how they relate to us in modern times. The king has been replaced by the boss or politician, the jester is now the class clown or comedian, and the warrior is the policeman or soldier. Personality types such as these go deep into our individual and collective psyche, so can have a profound effect on our thinking, feeling, and behavior. For a close up look at this powerful dynamic here is a blog version of "Who We Are"  or a full page version here.                      

We can change and heal

It seems our story was written many years ago, and we will never change. We prefer to believe that through focus and concentration on our upbringing we will gain the understanding and wisdom that leads to transformation. It usually takes years of hard painful work to uncover, clean, treat, and heal the wounds of youth, but we are worth it! To see how we got to where we are check out  "Who Wrote Your Script?"

Finding our power

Kids are so amazing. They are naturally creative, enthusiastic, authentic, kind, forgiving, and have many other wonderful attributes. These attributes are so wonderful, powerful, and life changing we call them "Super Powers". Unfortunately, many children in severely dysfunctional homes had these crushed early on. Some studies indicate even those from good homes lost much of these fine qualities as they grew up in response to educational and cultural pressures to conform. The first step to recovering these gems is awareness, so taking time to consider your past is time well spent. For a focused post see - Super Powers.

Conformity over creativity

Unfortunately, the educational system appears designed to minimize these fine qualities as math comes first, then language, humanities, and lastly the arts. Even within the arts, music and art have a higher status over drama and dance. It seems the system wants us to live in our heads and become university professors. We were made to think industry and conformity were more important than artistry and creativity. Life is much more dynamic, diverse, and distinct for this limiting mindset, and living mainly in our heads has caused a multitude of problems we are working to alleviate by living through the heart.

A wonderful TED Talk: "Do schools kill creativity?" by Sir Ken Robinson faces this problem brilliantly. In it he says: "Our only hope for the future is to adopt a new concept of human psychology, one in which we start to reconstitute our concept of the richness of human capacity. We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children... and by seeing our creative capacities for the richness they are. Our task is to educate their whole being, so they can face this challenging, unknown, but possibly bright future." For a condensed text of the video click here.

Coming home to our True Self

Finding our abandoned, hidden, or otherwise lost inner child can be difficult, yet one of the most, if not the most rewarding aspects of our recovery. The early years leave deep roots with unconscious wounds, and scars that can anchor us in our past. Uncovering, embracing, and understanding them can lead to great wisdom and transformation. Here is how one lost child (our founding father) found his "Homecoming".

Our Habitual Persona

Observing how we act, react, and respond to life stacks up over the years, particularly in youth, and to a standard set of emotions, feeling, beliefs, and behaviors that make up our personality. This becomes a "set-point" we return to again and again day to day and moment to moment through-out our lives. Observing how this persona manifests in the world can be quite interesting.

Some actors even find that by playing so many different roles they come to see their own personality as just another role they learned as a child. We too can realize that what we think, feel, say, and do is a role we play, one given us by our parents, siblings, and other authority figures in our youth and lives. Yet people and their roles can and do change. Perhaps a good way to understand ourselves better is to take a personality test and ponder the results.

“Finding” ourselves

One such test is The Big Five Personality Test. It's accuracy depends on how honest we can be about ourselves, and may be skewed by what we believe versus how we really behave. For a quick look at how the spectrum plays out look at a post of the summary of The Big Five personality Traits (plus one). Knowing our "go to" traits can allow the understanding that leads to transformation.

Inner kids are awesome!

In closing we wish to say how much we love and cherish our inner kids, and hope to impress on others the incredible peace and healing available through our naturally sensitive, eager, and loving inner kids. You may find as we have that life is so much richer and fulfilling when we let our child lead. Good luck and good love!

One last thing

Understanding and utilizing the impact and effect of the inner child is a life changer for many. The books do a great job but we also like to give a taste of how much this means to us personally, so for our founding fathers inner child's story please click here.

Stages of Development

 

Morris Massey coined the phrase "What you are is where you were when," and in doing so helped bring the importance of early development into the mainstream. The trend of recognizing and honoring children's growth and learning started well before with Maria Montessori in 1897. Erick Erickson built on her research and methods with his recognition of the importance of lifes many developmental stages. These can be a very helpful tool in figuring where things may have gone wrong and where to begin to put them right.

Dysfunctional families are usually a result of co-dependency;  "A type of dysfunctional helping relationship where one person supports or enables another person's addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement, or network of family, friends, etc. and fixation on others for sustenance, approval, identity, and so on" (Wikipedia). The Wiki quoted also identifies thirty dysfunctional behavior patterns and dynamics, and sixty signs of unhealthy parenting. No wonder there are so many problems in families and society today!

The Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families main text, "the Big Red Book,"  describes how we create lifelong thought and behavior patterns due to an abusive and neglectful family system in our youth. The abuse, neglect, and resulting patterns can be so prevalent and pervasive they appear normal and natural to family members.

To hide problems within the family and from others rules of don't talk, don't trust, don't feel, and don't look, don't listen, don't heal are created, and punishment is often quick and severe should they be broken. This textbook of family trauma also states that we unknowingly, subconsciously are doomed to recreate these sad and sick patterns through-out our lives in hopes of resolving them, and often with the people least equipped and likely to do so. And so it continues, unless and until we break the rules and awaken from the insanity.

With deep looking, listening, and feeling in safe communities of people where we can talk, trust, and focus on our issues, we can at last break the cycle to find insight, understanding, and wisdom. With this foundation of well being we can utilize newfound tools as skilful means to find and further healing. We may then find awareness, enlightenment, and transformation by unlocking our past and clearing out destructive baggage.

As you read this and things come up for you, we urge you to take time to explore and process thoughts and emotions. Take notes if something strikes you deeply, or if you think it deserves more attention at other times with family, friends, or others. The point is to see what's in the attic, the closet, and the baggage. To find out what is meaningful for you, and where you might find hope, help, and healing. Coming from a strong background and healing in twelve step recovery program meetings, step studies, and retreats, and its emphasis on concurrent community, counseling, and therapy, we know it is an option worth exploring.

From birth to two years may be the most important stage; basic trust vs. mistrust. Here reliable feeding, affection, affirmation, and attention help us feel the world is a safe and welcoming place. Abuse, neglect, and abandonment here can leave deep wounds, at times too deep to reach full understanding and healing. These poor souls may become withdrawn, suspicious, frustrated, and have great difficulty bonding through-out life.

A friend once shares that he was sometimes left in his crib and dirty diaper the whole day or tied up in the yard like a dog. Another felt her family life was a battle ground as family members were often fighting verbally and physically. Whether we experience neglect or abuse many come to see the world as cold and lonely, or angry and painful, or both. In twelve step recovery we learn to think of our birth parents as the means of our birth, but our true parent as a loving Higher Power we can access to re-parent ourselves with gentleness, kindness, caring, and love. 

Did we learn emotional stability, faith in our environment and future, or suspicion, uncertainty, and fear? Were our physical and mental needs met when we reached or cried out, or were we ignored and cursed? Did our wonder and appreciation of the world and others open up and expand, or did we shut down and close up? This is the most basic level of our development, so very important for our outlook on the rest of the stages and our life in general. We learn to talk here, so our innate expressiveness is a revealing window to this stage. Are we open and verbal, quiet and closed, or domineering and aggressive in our speech?

Early childhood is recognized as age two to four years and is marked by a development of autonomy vs. shame (self sufficiency vs. dependency). The question here; is it okay to be me.? Children in this stage can learn adequacy and personal control over physical skills through toilet training, dressing and feeding themselves, or may become saddled with sometimes extreme shame for not achieving these on others time schedule. One friend shares how when he wet his pants as a child, his mother laid out newspapers in the middle of the room, circled his relatives around him, and said "okay, now you can pee!" As you may guess, he was crushed.

On the other hand, another friend shares a picture of herself in a high chair with a bowl of cereal on her head. Unlike the first example, the family thought it was hilarious, as expressed by the wide smile on her face. Many understand this situation vividly, as they recall themselves or their own children dressing, eating, and otherwise readying for the day. For some it is or was a time of helping each other and getting a good start. For others a time of yelling, criticism, and other stresses.

Preschool age of four to five years is marked by a sense of initiative vs. guilt where we ask; is it okay for me to do, move, and act? If things go well this is the stage of courage, creativity, and adventure as we learn to play alone and with others, count, and make judgments. This can be a time of exploring of fun as we learn to play games, have fun, and sing and dance. One friend shares how she was stifled so feels a tightening constriction in her chest and throat when she needs to speak her truth.

In preschool we get our first chance at art through finger and brush painting in broad strokes on a large canvas. Colored pencils, crayons, markers, and coloring books may become available as well. The artistic influence may grow and flourish or be criticized and denied. This time can also be marked by aggressiveness through yelling, throwing, and hitting. A friend at this young age went on an adventure and walked to his cousins house. When it got dark his cousins parents took him home, but no one missed him or cared to mention his disappearance.

The span of age of five to twelve is the stage of competence and proficiency vs. inferiority and defeat. Now neighbors and others at school come into play as we learn skills of reading, writing, and many others. Sports, band, and other groups affect us as well. In this larger community we are exposed to a much wider range of people and their issues, some supportive but others bullying and judgmental. We now learn morals, industriousness, and using our bodies to their fullest as we ask ourselves; can I make it in the world of people and things?

 Some become inspired self starters, while others languish in feelings of lethargy and unworthiness. If the child is helped to master appropriate skills, self confidence soars. These strong roots grow strong wings to explore what we can do and do well. Excessive criticism and micromanagement here can cause long term feelings of weakness, inferiority, and low self esteem.

Adolescence is ages thirteen to nineteen, and the time of finding our identity or suffering from identity confusion and crisis. Now friends, role models, and other social relationships have the most affect on us as we decide; Who am I and who can I be? Careers, sexuality, drugs, and other responsibilities put pressure on us as we move towards and into adulthood. Teenagers are always anxious to fit in to their peer group, so being shunned or seen as an outsider or dweeb, geek, dork, etc. can be devastating.

This is a very fragile time as evidenced by the very high rates of drug abuse, crime, and suicide among teenagers. Teens also have the highest chance of being killed in car crashes, another indication of how today's teens have a lot of responsibility even though their maturity is still quite limited. Looking back on childhood we see many were pushed into roles such as sports or scholastic star, good or bad child, scapegoat, nature child, wounded, orphan, or needy child that persist through-out childhood and beyond. Do any of these roles resonate for you?

Twenty to twenty nine is considered early adulthood, and the stage of love and intimacy vs. isolation and loneliness. Relationships with mates and friends are foremost as we ponder; Can I love and be loved? We sense the complexity of relationships and learn about kindness, tenderness, and warmth. This stage is extending in our times as young adults struggle with school debt and the cost of marriage, homes, and children due to the economic situation and its many manifestations.

Romantic, college, and work relationships take on a new urgency as we look for purpose and meaning in another stressful and challenging time. Thankfully we normally have youthful energy, vitality, and resilience to help us through. This is also a time for very important decisions as we chose where to live, careers, and mates. Mistakes here are difficult and troublesome, as many young adults lack support of family, friends, and others.

Adulthood age thirty to sixty five is marked by generativity vs. stagnation as we hopefully find a mate, create a comfortable home, and build a family and career. Stagnation and isolation are unfortunately on the rise as younger adults are stuck with parents or room-mates much longer. Work and family life are most important as we ask; Can I make my life count?

The need to create or nurture things that have significant meaning and will outlast us arises and comes into focus at home, work, and other situations. Unfortunately this is also too often the time of divorce and separation as families shatter and dissolve. As hard as it is on adults, children may take it very hard and react with shock, denial, anger, and bargaining just as those facing death or other great losses.

Financial burdens may abound here as well as we face the costs of daycare, schools, homes, cars, healthcare, and so on. Maturity and/or dysfunction may be accelerated as we deal with the pressure and complexity of this very busy and stressful stage of life. Healthy supportive community can be a great blessing here if we have that luxury as  grandparents, siblings, or others lend a hand. If not, we are wise to find ways to create that loving and helpful community, and give back in ways we are able. 

Beyond sixty five is old age and a sense of integrity vs. despair. Can we look back on life and feel fulfilled, satisfied, and at peace, or is there regret, disappointment, and despair? Hopefully there is success and wisdom enough to meet the challenges of mental, physical, financial, and other declines and prepare for death. Here we ask ourselves if we have lived a meaningful life; was it worth it? 

If we are fortunate, we are able to give back to our family, friends, and communities in very skillful ways. Should we find our greatest longings are yet unfulfilled, there may still be time, talent, and finances available to fill the void. The past saw our older generations as a very valuable resource. That point of view was lost for a time as older Americans where pushed aside, but is regaining validity as we look to those who have gone before for guidance, knowledge, and inspiration.

Going through these stages we hope has been an eye opener and revelation of what was gained, what was lost, and what is yet to come. Knowing this we can work to compensate for losses and missed opportunities through lovingly re-parenting ourselves and finding and utilizing supportive communities along the way. We can't go it alone. We weren't built that way. We are social creatures and will only thrive to our fullest through deep, caring, and profound connections with others.

Acknowledging  and understanding how the stages of development played out in our in our lives can be very helpful, for if any were missed or denied they may haunt us the rest of our lives. Conversely, resolving them in the present the best as we can, we may yet find true fulfillment, love and happiness. As mentioned earlier, twelve step programs can be a great help to recognize and resolve these issues, build community, and find ways to give back the help and healing we have received. 

Copyrights 11/17