How can these football words help in times of discouragement? Typically, St. Ignatius’s rules for “Discernment of Spirits” are applied solely to spiritual ups and downs. However, like Bill W., founder of AA, I, too, have found the rules helpful when applied to mental/emotional health. In previous articles, we’ve covered St Ignatius’ first three rules….
St. Igantius 14 Rules Discernment of Spirits Simplified PHASE ONE- Pre -Conversion / Early Conversion TITLE – 3-A’s Awareness, Acceptance/understanding, Action – The way over or through the obstacles begins with awareness of which phase (1,2,or 3) you are in. Then which rule do you need to apply? We do this by gaining a clear…
Codependency If we think of a pendulum of co-dependence: on one extreme there is dependence, and on the other extreme there is independence. In the middle is interdependence. People who are struggling with independent codependents often think they don’t need anyone and that they can do everything by themselves. Or they think it’s just easier…
Neuroplasticity: Re-wiring Your Brain Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity, refers to the ability of the nervous system to change its structure, functions, or connections in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli. “It can involve functional changes due to brain damage or structural changes due to learning. Neuroplasticity is when the brain…
How to Heal Emotionally? Here at ERSM we believe emotional healing begins with being affirmed. The need to be affirmed can be met through a spouse, counselor, clergy, CranioSacral therapist, or trusted sponsor. No matter who it is, it needs to be someone with the gift/ability/training of Therapeutic Listening. Here at Edge of the Red…
Emotional, Spiritual, and Physical Boundaries: In the book Boundaries, Dr. Townshed and Cloud remind us there are physical boundaries, mental boundaries, and emotional boundaries. PHYSICAL BOUNDARIES “Physical boundaries help us decide who can touch us, how they can touch us and under what circumstances.” We have learned we begin and end at the tip of…
What are boundaries? I hated that word when I first came into recovery work. I just couldn’t visualize it. It helped me when someone suggested I start to think of physical boundaries such as fences, and property lines. This helped create a visual for me for emotional boundaries to become a little clearer. (I believe…
When people enter Wholeness/Recovery work, they often only have a “hammer” and a “screwdriver” in their toolbox. And because of that, every problem looks like a nail or a screw. They don’t realize all the other OPTIONS and CHOICES available to them. We would never expect a carpenter to build a house with just a…
IDENTIFY FEELINGS FEELINGS The majority of the time, when people start recovery work, they aren’t aware of their feelings. They often feel either anger or numbness. Or good. But good is not a feeling. Others come because they are worried and struggling with obsessive thoughts. The obsession is almost always over something they are powerless…
WARNING: ABOUT INTROSPECTION/RUMINATING The first topic we will discuss is feelings; however, one crucial thing to mention before discussing feelings is ruminating or becoming overly introspective. We do NOT want to become overly introspective. This leads to the black hole. It often sounds like. “I’m bad, stupid, unworthy, dumb. Things are never going to change….