Therapy: What’s love got to do with It?

 

In my practice as a psychotherapist and especially as a yoga teacher, I see many clients who are looking to live a more heartfelt, soulful life.

Clients often mention, “My soul isn’t into things I used to enjoy.” “I’m heavy-hearted with stress, past traumas, fears, current crisis, health concerns, relationship stressors, etc.”

As a therapist I’m given the challenge to help people identify why they feel heavy-hearted, what gets in the way to making changes for the better, and how to have hope that things will get better.

Maybe it’s about uncovering a passion in their everyday tasks? Maybe it’s about forgiveness? Acceptance? Living more spiritually? Faithfully? Intentionally? Mindfully? Compassionately?

The opportunities can be endless when trying to understand the “why” of heart ache (sadness. loneliness), a cold heart (anger), or the feeling of no heart at all.

How do I as a therapists help to heal the heart?

Love = Heart. How content or discontent we are is largely dependent on how we think we belong with others—that is, the extent to which we feel we are accepted, approved, and loved. We can identify, articulate, and create an image of what heart is by how it makes us feel loved or unloved.

There are different types of love too. There’s Eros (romantic or sexual love), agape (unconditional or spiritual love), devotional love, compassion, even a love for humanity.

Therapy consists primarily of the therapist asking the client questions to understand and help the client identify how and why their heart is feeling the way it is. It’s the work of the therapist to uncover the uniqueness of how each client defines heart and love. Once the meaning of love and how the heart has been living with or without that love therapy can begin and change can happen.

When each of us feels like we belong or that we are accepted by our loved ones, peers, or community, and mostly importantly, when we love ourselves we live wholeheartedly, soulfully.

Each month a local mental health therapist will discuss an area of mental health. This week’s contributor is Sherri Moe, MS Psychotherapist.