Divorce and New Beginnings
Bear Psychology Podcast
Using Self-Compassion practices after divorce can help both parents and children. Divorce and/or separation is a stressful but quite common experience for both parents and children. Children often carry guilt, shame, and anger along with many other big feelings that parents often feel ill-equipped to address. In her book, “Two Times as Much Love” Eileen Beltzner tells the story of Alexander, a third-grader struggling with the emotional aftermath of his parents’ divorce, and his journey toward self-understanding and personal growth. Beltzner uses engaging storytelling and...
info_outline
Schizoid Personality Disorder and a life of challenge
Bear Psychology Podcast
Blair Sorrel shares her journey of living with Schizoid Personality Disorder and learning to accept and love herself. She undercovers further elements of her life growing up in a family of origin where she experienced ridicule leading to low self-worth, social anxiety and a debilitating fear of authority figures. She explores a home life with “poor parenting” which undermined her academic and career disappointments. She reflects on the importance of nurturing caregivers to allow the flourishing of Intelligence and genetics toward success. In her book, “A Schizoid at Smith: How...
info_outline
Your Historical Trauma
Bear Psychology Podcast
Looking for a new approach for self-help or to support individual or group therapy for those who experienced childhood trauma? In his guidebook, “The Historical Trauma Programme - For Self-help or to Support Individual Therapy” Bill Wahl introduces a comprehensive and science-based model of working with trauma. With over ten years in the field, Counselling Psychologist Bill Wahl and 3 dozen NHS colleagues developed workbook-based models of trauma therapy which can be used for self-help, to support individual therapy, or as a comprehensive model of group therapy. The approach is reflected...
info_outline
Dopamine Nation – Freeing Ourselves from Overconsumption / Instant Gratification
Bear Psychology Podcast
It seems clear to me, that if we are constantly striving to experience only pleasure we will certainly land in a hurting world of pain. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter (or chemical messenger, which the brain produces) that plays a big role in the experience of pleasure. Instant hits of pleasure can keep us hooked into a cycle of gratification that results in an escalating need for reward, but instead leads to anxiety and a thirst for satisfaction that is never fulfilled. Our brains produce chemical jolts that can be evoked by emoji text messages; Facebook “likes”; shopping...
info_outline
Use Movement to Heal Trauma
Bear Psychology Podcast
“Embodied” approaches to healing include expressive movement, guided imagery, ritual, music and creative expressive interventions. This goes beyond static medication and breathing exercises and into more dynamic practices. Pioneer Toni Bergins, brings active movement or “embodiment” into the toolkit offered in her book, “Embody: Feel, Heal, and Transform Your Life Through Movement” Bergins turns the processing of pain and trauma into an expressive art aligned with the most recent research. Her trauma-informed approach helps you release old struggles and shows you to stop...
info_outline
Navigating Life’s Ups and Downs
Bear Psychology Podcast
In her book, “A Very Narrow Bridge: Reflections of a Psychologist”, Dr. Rickey Miller shares her story guiding readers toward a greater understanding of life and the development of compassion for yourself and others. Her book takes an important look at suffering, resilience and healing. This memoir is a follows the author and her patients through heartbreak, grief, and anxiety toward joy, inspiration, and love. She encourages us to ask questions and truly consider alternative paths to where we are stuck. She suggests that we fail to ask ourselves if a...
info_outline
The Relief of Letting Go
Bear Psychology Podcast
Having dedicated her life to helping others through emotional moments, Dr. Bea MacKay knows better than most that there are many things we cannot control in life. In her book, “Let Go of the Outcome and Let Things Fall Together”, she shares strategies for dealing with events we cannot change without feeling defeated. Her approach to mental health, embraces emotional wellbeing. Listen to our conversation with psychologist & author Dr. Bea MacKay as we talk all about her approach to reconnecting with your emotions and yourself. In this book, she walks you through how you can combine...
info_outline
Understanding Narcissism
Bear Psychology Podcast
If you have ever struggled with a person in your life that displays behaviors such as: lack of empathy; entitlement; a need to be the center of attention; negative reactions to any critical feedback; a grandiose sense of self; arrogance; manipulation and gaslighting; a need to be in control; demeaning and blaming of others and much more than this conversation will be of interest to you! “Narcissism: A Contemporary Introduction” by Dr. Richard Wood is a well-researched book that provides you with a deep understanding of the psychological terrain of the Narcissist. He distinguishes and...
info_outline
Healing from Wounds No One Sees – From Military to Motorcycles
Bear Psychology Podcast
Dedicating your life to the safety and freedom of your country is a massive sacrifice military veterans across make every day. One of the largest challenges for these heroes is working through the barriers and stigma of PTSD following service and navigating their path of readjustment and recovery. Kurt Grant, author of “Shiny Side Up: On the Road to Recovery”, used a cross-country motorcycle trip to help integrate and calm some of the chaos in his mind following military service as an infantry sergeant. Listen to our conversation with veteran & author Kurt Grant as we talk about...
info_outline
Our Emotional Connection to Pets and how it impact our lives
Bear Psychology Podcast
So many of our listeners have pets that they cherish and certainly have shared struggles they might have with these animals. I am a great animal lover and many of my clients have found solace in their relationships with pets in the home, at times feeling a great emotional boost from the connection. With this in mind, I wanted to share the work of Denise Mange – who has written about her special approach to building a health relationship with the pets in your life. A bark is not always just a bark and a bite is not always just a bite. Training a dog (or other animal)...
info_outline"The most terrifying thing is to accept yourself fully" – Carl Jung
We'll start by recognizing that we are much more than the surface image we present to others while at the same time exploring why for many, we guard our interior world so very carefully, in fear that others will see us for who we really are.
It begs the question – Who and what are we really guarding from others, and why? We will discuss what happens when these facades break down, and what we can see more clearly. By breaking down barriers within ourselves we can give permission to see our vulnerabilities, our strong emotions, our deep desires and our drives.
When these deeper drivers create problems in our lives, it can create a cycle where we feel an instant dread or hate towards what lies deep inside ourselves. What kinds of relationships do we create if we see something in others that we despise only to discover it within ourselves? This is your Shadow.
You are MORE than these barriers to YOU... Recognizing the deeper layers of who you are and the unconscious drivers in your life, allows your true personality to shine through.
From a psychological point of view the Shadow is a part of your personality (an unconscious part) that we resist recognizing or admitting to. This is the part of us that would say "not me, I didn't do it, or I hate it when others do it" whatever "it" is. The Shadow will likely be something that someone in our life is telling us we are guilty of that we do not want to know or see. This "it" might be perceived as positive by some, and negatively by others.
By integrating this "it" and knowing how it exists within us, can free up of much of our own inner battles. If we wish to grow in our self-understanding, we should know how the Shadow lives within us so we can either embrace it or work with the impulse to hide it as it surfaces with a full recognition of the power it has in our responses or reactions.
In our day-to-day world, we often trade on platitudes such as "it will be Ok; don't worry; get over it". These superficial responses often find us feeling alone and misunderstood. This is especially the case when we feel what is deeper within us pushing to the surface for the breathing space letting us face and witness our Shadow.
Opening the door to this journey to meet our Shadow may be our biggest step towards growth. While it is filled with fearful self-examinations that we may want to continually reject, we are being propelled to look beneath the surface time and time again to meet who we truly are.
Links & Resources:
Shadow Work Journal – by Jessica Cross (2015): https://bit.ly/2zftl5p
Shadow Work Guide – by Scott Jeffrey (2017): https://bit.ly/2WU1Rv0
Dr. Gerald May – "The Dark Night of the Soul" 2005: https://bit.ly/2ZshcVn
Psychology Today: https://bit.ly/3eaLiAK
Carl Jung and the Shadow – The mechanics of your dark shadow: https://bit.ly/36x2Rsg
Jordan Peterson in integrating the shadow: https://bit.ly/2zrqRAJ
Emerald – Shadow Work Explained – Jungian Psychology: https://bit.ly/2ZuTVlF
Ernest Becker –Immortality Projects & his famous book The Denial of Death: https://bit.ly/2XiDsOI