The purpose of therapy is to help someone find ways to dissolve unnecessary problems and suffering and/or to make sense of genuine suffering in a way that enables them to move forward in life. To do this in a ways that make sense, or feel good, or right, more fulfilling, or more at ease.

LIFE Therapy is no different.

Where it differs is that it is prepared to reach beyond the individual and out to attend to the broader systems in which individual people live – especially where those system are contributors to their suffering. LIFE Therapy attends to this because not to do so is only half a healing.

In this sense it is about healing life – biologically, psychologically, socially, and ecologically.

One aspect of this is to seek to enable to live as in alignment with their truth and their calling as possible. For example, is it possible to make a living doing what you feel called to do. It seems that this is, in many ways, the healthiest way to live. Any system or force that would prevent this needs to be questioned.

Spirit

To heal, each individual will often be required to face a truth – either that is hidden within them of which they are unconscious, or that they are suppressing in some way – either way, the individuals is called to seek and live a truth about themselves, or about life.

To act in a way that is in alignment with such truths is to return balance to oneself. This for me is what it means to live a spiritual life; to life in truth.

In the simplest term, to live a spiritual life is to live in alignment with the truth of life. While it can be helpful and/or necessary to have guidance along the way, the final knowing of this truth must be found within the experience the individual and not in the words or actions of a teacher.

Spirituality then is not a dogmatic or ritualistic practice. It is a practice of seeking ones truth and then living in alignment with it – to own the consequences of ones actions – to take responsibility for the growth of ones soul. This is what I mean when I talk of living a spiritually aligned life.

In its simplest expression it means to act in alignment with ones truth.

Your Truth

The challenge of living a spiritual life is that while the truth will set you free, you first have to face it. Facing truth is not always the easiest, or most popular, or comfortable option for people. It can hurt, at least to begin with.

Invariably it means stepping into unfamiliar territory and that which is unfamiliar can be unpredictable, that which is unpredictable can invite fearful thoughts. Sometimes a lot of fearful thoughts.

One aspect of LIFE Therapy aims to help people face that fear, to learn to distinguish and refine the signals emotions point to in order to find the meaning and the sense in them – to realise and avoid real dangers and to reach out for real opportunities. in this process they develop a stronger sense of themselves. Limits and boundaries expand and contract according to necessity.

Outside Your Comfort Zones

There is potential to be had in knowing your truth, but the things that were true a week ago may not be truth today. Life is continually unfolding all the time. The act of remaining present to the moment ‘The unfolding moment of becoming’ keeps us with the world, ourselves and other – we get to relate to them, and as best we can to the truth that living provides. It is the unfolding moment of life of which we are all part.

It is out of this place that one’s calling can arise. You feel it like a pull. For some people it is clear what tasks and acts will express it best. For others, it can be more about surrendering to a path of discovery and play – that life itself is the most significant factor – to realise that ones consciousness of being is enough. That being alive is what it is about.

It is often from this place that and individual will realise that the deeper mystery of their psyche has led them on a path that in so many ways could not have been any different. From that place, of realising themselves in a deeper way, of realising the truth of their lives in a deeper way, they begin to live and chose life in a new way, in a way that makes more sense to them, that aligns more with the values they realise are where there hearts are.

Making a Living

Living in alignment with your truth can be a challenge when living in situations where external forces inhibit your ability to make responsible choices for yourself. The challenges that such situations present can leave people feeling powerless.

Creative Calling has been designed to help you find ways to reclaim more of your power in life. This is no get rich quick scheme. Such projects often take huge effort and a lot of work, but the rewards are well worth it. Not just in a financial sense – because it can lead to you financial freedom (or at least some more) – it is the value of living turret to yourself, and true to your calling that counts.

Niching Yourself

The challenge is not lost on me. Over the last 18 months I have played around with multiple organic marketing strategies across 80% of current social media platforms.

Here are some of the takeaways:

  • NICHE – Top of the list. If you don’t have a niche it’s REALLY hard to get noticed. The way the algorithms of platforms are designed (along with most peoples psychologies) preference specialisation.
  • EXPERTISE – Aligned with Niche. Business, branding, it’s about trust. In to build trust you need to demonstrate that you can deliver your offer.
  • FREQUENCY – There is a formula. Quality over quantity of content wins. So does frequency of quality. The limiting factor? How much time do you have to produce quality content and post it over the time you want to spend doing what it is you are marketing for?
  • OFFER – again, this is so much easier when you have a clear niche because you can narrow down on the specificity of your offer. This is the ‘what real world problem are you solving’, ‘what life will be like once it’s solved’, ‘how what I have to offer will help you solve it (faster, cheaper, more effectively)’

Creative Calling

I’ll use my situation for context.

For my part, as mentioned in the video, when it came to trying to set up in private practice as a therapist I have struggled to find enough clients. This is shifting as I transition to working more locally, and as my reach increases, but by far the biggest factor that has limited this initial growth is the fact that I have chosen not to niche.

Why not to niche? Well, it was not through lack of trying. It makes sense if you can. For me, every time I considered what area I would focus on it just felt wrong. It felt limiting, both to potential clients and myself.

Accepting that this was how I felt set me free. Trying to force through resistance to change because it is unfamiliar and we are resisting change out of fear is very different to forcing oneself to change when it is not in alignment with what seems constantly true – or aligned with a principle.

Relating and Adapting

Sure, you could niche, but if that means compromising how you feel, should you?

In this instance, personally speaking, to choose one niche over another without feeling called to it, would be to serve the market and not the potential patient.

You may have heard me talk about the trap that people can create for themselves by over identifying with an element, or role, that gets projected into the ones self concept, and how that can limit potential. This is a perfect example.

If I was attached to the idea of ‘being a therapist’, that I felt that I needed to have clients full time as soon a s possible, or that I felt a need to have my therapy practice as a sole means of income, then the potential to compromise my truth would likely be much higher.

As to the implications of compromising one’s truth, that is hard to say. All I can say is that the more I tried, the less satisfied I felt, the less ‘right’ it felt. And drifting amid a sea of online marketing gurus and coaches telling me that to niche is one of the key principles to success, I struggled. This is a prime example of the ‘prevailing spirit’ in conflict with the ‘essential spirit.’ the prevailing spirit being the proposals by experts and the essential spirit being what I know to be right for me.

Trusting Yourself

When the world is telling you that if you want a specific result you must to do something a certain way, but you realise that that way is not right for you – even if it makes logical sense -it can take a lot of courage to do it another way. As I say, I am not against niching, it is just not right for me at this time in the context of offering therapy. Notice that I say, ‘at this time’, I am well aware that this might change, but I can’t force it.

It the difference between trying to force change and being willing to change. One works against something, the other surrenders to it. When the thing surrendered to is the truth as you know it, then that willingness comes with a greater sense of resolution, freedom, and power.

Of course, this is a simple expression of what, in real terms, can be a far more complex experience.

How we balance our calling with our need to survive can be one of the greatest challenges we face. The Creative Calling Course focusses on this.

If you are on the fence about the course and want to dive in to the first session, email me, or use the form on the page HERE.