iccp

The life of the man over 50 is more hazardous now than ever before. Over 50 men are now the highest risk group of suicide. In UK the only age group where divorce figures are on the rise is the over 50 male. It is then more important than ever that men begin to speak to each other about important issues like health, ageing, and maturing

Divorce,increased health risks, redundancy, etc. make this a challenging time with loss, confusion abounding for many, but it can also have many gifts for those ready for an adventure.

Jack (56) came to see me at my psychotherapy practice some months ago complaining of depressive episodes and lack of motivation. As he spoke he revealed that he had been experiencing strong feelings of loneliness and isolation following his wife`s recent work changes, which meant she had taken on a demanding new work role and was increasingly unavailable to him. He disclosed that their sexual relationship,which had been vibrant, had diminished and that he had begun watching pornography for significant periods 3-4 times a week and masturbating to ejaculation.

Diagnosis is of the present, prognosis is of the future, it is important not to confuse the two.

As the autumn weather closes in with chilly brightness, it is a good time to look at how the harvesting is going, after the summer. The end of the Celtic year is approaching at the end of October, and this too makes it a fitting time to reflect on the time just gone. Finally the general state of our country is leading many people to sit back and reflect on the fierce blooming the country did in recent years, and that may also be going through a waning time. I see autumn as a quieter time when we can begin to rest …

"Rest in great natural peace, this exhausted mind,

Welcome to my summer blog. The third in this new series of blogs that I am writing for the Institute of Creative Counselling and Psychotherapy web-site.
As usual I am working with a particular poem that helps and holds me as I write, and as I meditate on the season we are in. In this season David Whyte`s poem Self Portrait stirs me and fits the experience of the opening summer as he says:

"I want to know if you know how to melt into that fierce heat of living, falling towards the centre of your longing…"

Two further developments are emerging as the spring warms up:

I am announcing an exciting Men’s Healing Workshop “The Fire of Love”
a residential workshop June 24 – 27 in Wicklow. Where Leigh Tolson and I will offer a workshop combining integrative psychotherapy, and tantra practices, to provide a powerful healing workshop for men around wounding to their sexual identities. For further information contact me at germurphy@edgworth.ie

The spring seems to be slowly peeping through the hardest winter we have had for some time and it is time to write another blog for the ICCP web-site. It does feel like its been a long one and although the snowdrops are coming up, only the “hardy perennials” of us are in our element.
I thought I would open with a poem that has been a friend to me through the low-key February time that is upon us, where winter greyness is not yet past but possibility is emerging.

This is by Claire mc Donnell a Donegal poet:

A breeze, smooth as cream ,cools my cheek,

I have just come down from Killiney Hill having seen the sun rise on Winter Solstice morning, seems like a good time to start blogging ..a new year opens!! This is my first blog ever, (coming into a new age of communication is scary) a trust is called for, do not know who, if anyone is reading this, a strange feeling, feel like shouting ``is anyone there `` as if down a long corridor.