iccp

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…"

Those words speak something of my experience of the opening summer we are now experiencing, with the blooming, bursting of nature as it opens and swells with new life all around us. The smell of the gorse on Killiney Hill the delicate colours of the apple blossom, and the fragrance of the lilac flower are almost too intense to take in fully. Nature challenges us to be fully in the here and now and to embrace the joy of life, matching nature with our own opening to pleasure.

"I have been told in that fierce embrace even the gods speak of God"

This makes me think of how we, in psychotherapy and allied pursuits, may become over–focused on suffering and the shadow elements of life, and somewhat neglect the importance of pleasure and the focus on gratitude that it evokes in us. I was reminded recently of how the wonderful man Micheal O Regan, now deceased, (my ex supervisor) spoke of the importance of pleasure, and this time of year is a good one in which to meditate on this. How often do we wonder with our clients about the sources of pleasure in their lives? To bear pleasure may be quite a skill also, demanding the opening of the chakras in a way to bear intensity, I think especially the root chakra may need to be open to allow the charge of pleasure to be contained?? As well, of course as the opening of the heart, we are all familiar with the phrase "it does my heart good" well these days do ...

The opening of summer has brought its own energies to me. Recently I was lucky to be involved in the launch of FuturesIreland on April 11th at the Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham. It was a project undertaken by National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO) over two years, where 150 innovators from all walks of life in Ireland over the past 25 years were brought together to explore the nature of innovation and the development of Irish society over the next decades. It was an ambitious project which I, and others helped to facilitate with the NESDO staff.
In the current state of recession it perhaps looked a luxury project, having been conceived and developed in times of greater plenty. However, it was inspiring to see the gathering of perhaps 200 people on that day to celebrate the work and begin the work of embedding the work in the structures of Irish society. It was launched by An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, TD, and attended by many of the policy makers from both the public and private sectors of society. A key, and I think revolutionary finding of the work was that, for major social change to take place, the change has to be undertaken at three levels, Institutional, Interpersonal, and Personal, for the change to be effective. This may not sound revolutionary, but I would argue that it is, as it is the first time that this concept has been accepted at the highest level of society. The concept has deep ramifications, I believe, if taken seriously, so that when institutional change of organizational structures is considered it must be linked with changing the culture of relating on an interpersonal level, and even changing the deeply personal level of self-relating of the participants in such a change. What implications may this have for say, the recent Croke Park agreement, of for changes in the Public Service?? These are surely times where structural change is needed in our financial, political and social systems, but without the attendant interpersonal and personal change to allow our deep-seated attitudes to each other and to ourselves to change so that we are not so driven by fear and greed we may not achieve sustainable change. For example when we rage about banks etc just now, could we look at how these phenomenon are reflected inside of ourselves?
It was sobering at that conference to hear Maureen Gaffney of NESF share current research coming out which states that of people facing life changing crises and the demand for change, that only 20% see such crises as opportunity, while 80% seek to either survive, or return to the pre-crisis functioning.!! How do we alter this figure??

The coming of summer has also brought another Men’s Tantra workshop to me. I assisted on a workshop with Leigh Tolson on a weekend where 18 men explored the dynamics and teachings of Tantra as it applies to men. This may seem a long way away from the outer world focus of the conference I write about above, but I think not. The deeply personal and the organizational lives need to be brought together for us to flourish. I believe that important work needs to take place in men’s relationship to themselves, their power, their sexuality and their spirit. The fact that pornography is the biggest area of interest on the internet says something about our relationship to deep-relating, as does the crisis regarding sexual abuse. I think the disconnected relationship we can sometimes have with sexuality is connected to how we use our planet. It is inspiring to see how men are responding to the opportunity to enrich their relationship to their own sexuality and the fun, vulnerability and presence which this is allowing to blossom. We have a level two workshop to look forward to in June, (see iccp for information), which I will facilitate with Leigh Tolson for some of the near 50 men who have completed level one, and we will have another Level one in the autumn for men who want to embark on this journey

This has been an important time for the professional psychotherapy training programme at the Institute. After 26 years the programme held its final residential workshop recently. While the training may be re-launched, it has for now ended. Having been involved for 23 years this was a deeply moving experience for me, and like all endings, it was filled with a mixture of responses, of grief, gladness, satisfaction, emptiness among many other hues of feeling. It has been one of the most important relationships in my life, and I have been blessed to be involved. I suppose it brings to mind the meditation on life and death which David Whyte speaks of:

"I want to know if you are willing to live day by day with the consequence of love,
And the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat."

We must be able to accept winter if we are to enjoy summer and the mix, just now is a poignant one.
So let’s enjoy the summer as it is arriving, and I will look forward to the next Coming Home workshop in July, (see iccp for information), and the many other pleasures that summer brings.