Konseling

Komunikasi Dalam Konseling

2012-01-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

Dalam Proses konseling, komunikasi adalah hal yang perlu diperhatikan, sebab selama proses konseling berlangsung, komunikasi memegang peranan penting antara konselor dan klien. Oleh karena itu seorang konselor perlu menguasai teknik dalam berkomunikasi ketika menerima atau merespon pernyataan klien dan mengkomunikasikan kembali kepada klien. Dalam komunikasi seorang konselor perlu menggunakan respon-respon yang menunjang pencapaian tujuan konseling tersebut. Ada beberapa hal yang mendasar perlu diperhatikan oleh konselor dalam berkomunikasi dengan klien, antara lain :

Attending (Perhatian)

Attending adalah teknik yang sederhana tetapi sangat penting pada saat akan dimulainya proses konseling. Seorang konselor yang telah menerima keberadaan klien, harus bisa memusatkan dirinya kepada klien. Tujuannya supaya Klien tumbuh kesan pertama yang baik kepada konselor bahwa ia berada bersama dengan orang yang tepat untuk menyatakan secara bebas apa saja yang akan disampaikannya.

Opening (pembukaan)

Opening adalah ketrampilan / teknik untuk membuka / memulai komunikasi dan hubungan konseling. Contohnya menyambut kehadiran klien dan membicarakan topic netral seperti menjwab salam, mempersilakan duduk dll.

Acceptance (penerimaan)

Acceptance (penerimaan) adalah teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk menunjukan minat dan pemahaman terhadap hal-hal yang dikemukakan klien. Contohnya anggukan kepala dll.

Rertatement (pengulangan)

Restatement adalah teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk mengulang / menyatakan kembali pernyataan klien ( sebagian atau seluruhnya ) yang dianggap penting.

Reflection of fefling (pemantulan perasaan)

Reflection of fefling (pemantulan perasaan) adalah teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk memantulkan perasaan / sikap yang terkandung dibalik pernyataan klien.

Clafication (klarifikasi)

Clafication (klarifikasi) adalah teknik yang digunakan untuk mengungkapkan kembali isi pernyataan klien dengan menggunakan kata-kata baru dan segar. Contohnya pada intinya, pada dasarnya dll.

Paraprahing
Paraprashing adalah kata-kata konselor untuk menyatakan kembali esensi dari ucapan-ucapan klien. Contohnya “ya”, “benar/betul” secara spontan dari klien.

Structuring (pembatasan)

Structuring (pembatasan) adalah teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk memberikan batas-batas /pembatasan agar proses konseling berjalan sesuai dengan apa yang menjadi tujuan dalam konseling.

Lead (pengarahan)

Lead (pengarahan) adalah teknik / ketrampilan yang digunakan konselor untuk mengarahkan pembicaraanklien dari suatu hal ke hal yang lain secara langsung ketrampilan ini sering pula disebut ketrampilan bertanya.

Silence (diam)

Silence (diam) adalah suasana hening, tidak ada interaksi verbal antara konselor dank lien dalam proses konseling.

Reassurance (penguatan / dukungan)

Reassurance (penguatan / dukungan ) adalah ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan oleh konselor untuk memberikan dukungan / penguatan terhadap pernyataan positif klien agar ia menjadi lebih yakin dan percaya diri.

Rejection (penolakan)

Rejection (penolakan) adalah ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan konselor unutuk melarang klien melakukan rencana yang akan membahayakan / merugikan dirinya atau orang lain.

Advice (Saran/nasehat)

Advice adalah ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk memberikan nasehat atau saran bagi klien agar dia lebih jelas mengenai apa yang akan dikerjakan.

Summary (ringkasan/kesimpulan)

Summary ( ringkasan / kesimpulan ) adalah ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk menyimpulkan atau ringkasan mengenai apa yang telah dikemukakan klien pada proses komunikasi konseling.

Konfrontasi (pertentangan )

Konfrontasi ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan oleh konselor untuk menunjukan adanya kesenjangan, diskrepansi atau inkronguensi dalam diri klien kemudian konselor mengumpanbalikan kepada klien.

Interprestasi (penafsiran)

Interprestasi adalah ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan oleh konselor dimana atau karena tingkah laku klien ditafsirkan / diduga dan dimengerti dengan dikomunikasikan pada klien. Selain itu didalam interpretasi konselor menggali dan makna yang terdapat dibelakang kata-kata klien atau dibelakang perbuatan / tindakannya yang telah diceritakannya. Bertujuan membantu klien lebih memahami didiri sendiri bila mana klien bersedia mempertimbangkannya dengan pikiran terbuka.

Termination (pengakhira)

Termination (pengakhiran) adalah ketrampilan / teknik yang digunakan konselor untuk mengakhiri komunikasi berikutnya maupun mengakhiri karena komunikasi konseling betul-betul telah “berakhir”.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

2012-01-23T20:54:00.000-08:00

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, M.D. (July 8, 1926 – August 24, 2004) was a Swiss American psychiatrist, a pioneer in Near-death studies and the author of the groundbreaking book On Death and Dying (1969), where she first discussed what is now known as the Kübler-Ross model.^[1]

She is a 2007 inductee into the American National Women's Hall of Fame.^[2] She was the recipient of twenty honorary degrees and by July 1982 had taught, in her estimation, 125,000 students in death and dying courses in colleges, seminaries, medical schools, hospitals, and social-work institutions.^[3] In 1970, she delivered the The Ingersoll Lectures on Human Immortality at Harvard University, on the theme, On Death and Dying.

Birth and education

Elisabeth Kübler was born on July 8, 1926 in Zürich, Switzerland, one of triplets. Elisabeth was born fifteen minutes before her identical sister, Erika. Minutes later came her sister, Eva.^[4] Her family were Protestant Christians. Her father did not want her to study medicine, but she persisted. Eventually her father took pride in her career. In an interview she stated: In Switzerland I was educated in line with the basic premise: work work work. You are only a valuable human being if you work. This is utterly wrong. Half working, half dancing - that is the right mixture. I myself have danced and played too little."^[5]
During World War II she became involved in refugee relief work in Zürich and later visited Majdanek death camp. She graduated from the University of Zürich medical school in 1957.

Academic career
She moved to the United States in 1958 to work and continue her studies in New York.
As she began her psychiatric residency, she was appalled by the hospital treatment of patients who were dying. She began giving a series of lectures featuring terminally ill patients, forcing medical students to confront people who were dying.
In 1962 she accepted a position at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Kübler-Ross completed her training in psychiatry in 1963, and moved to Chicago in 1965. She became an instructor at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. She developed there a series of seminars using interviews with terminal patients, which drew both praise and criticism. She sometimes questioned the practices of traditional psychiatry that she observed. She also undertook 39 months of classical psychoanalysis training in Chicago.
Her extensive work with the dying led to the book On Death and Dying in 1969. In this work she proposed the now famous Five Stages of Grief as a pattern of adjustment. These five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In general, individuals experience most of these stages, though in no defined sequence, after being faced with the reality of their impending death. The five stages have since been adopted by many as applying to the survivors of a loved one's death, as well.
Kübler-Ross encouraged the hospice care movement, believing that euthanasia prevents people from completing their 'unfinished business'.
In 1977 she persuaded her husband to buy forty acres of land in Escondido, California, near San Diego, where she founded "Shanti Nilaya" (Home of Peace). She intended it as a healing center for the dying and their families. She was also a co-founder of the American Holistic Medical Association.
In the late 1970s Kübler-Ross became interested in out-of-body experiences, mediumship, spiritualism and in other ways attempting to contact the dead. This led to a scandal connected to the Shanti Nilaya healing center where she was duped by the medium Jay Barham, founder of the Church of the Facet of the Divinity. Claiming he could channel the spirits of the departed and summon ethereal "entities", he encouraged church members to engage in sexual relations with the "spirits". He may have hired several women to play the parts of female spirits for this purpose.^[6] Kubler-Ross' friend Deanna Edwards attended a service to ascertain whether allegations against Barham were true. He was found to be naked and wearing only a turban when Edwards unexpectedly pulled masking tape off the light switch and flipped on the light.^[7]^[8]^[9]
Kubler-Ross may have thought that Christianity taught transmigration of the soul (reincarnation).^[7]
She conducted many workshops on AIDS in different parts of the world. In 1990 she moved the healing Center to her own farm in Head Waters, Virginia to reduce her extensive travelling.
Kübler-Ross suffered a series of strokes in 1995 which left her partially paralyzed on her left side, and the healing Center closed around that time. In a 2002 interview with The Arizona Republic, she stated that she was ready for death. She died in 2004 at her home in Scottsdale, Arizona, and was later buried at the Paradise Memorial Gardens cemetery.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_K%C3%BCbler-Ross.

Istilah Konseling

2012-01-18T23:27:00.000-08:00

Konseling (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia)

kon-se-ling n 1 pemberian bimbingan oleh yg ahli kpd seseorang dng menggunakan metode psikologis dsb; pengarahan; 2 pemberian bantuan oleh konselor kpd konseli sedemikian rupa sehingga pemahaman thd kemampuan diri sendiri meningkat dl memecahkan berbagai masalah; penyuluhan.

Kasus
ka-sus n 1 keadaan yg sebenarnya dr suatu urusan atau perkara; keadaan atau kondisi khusus yg berhubungan dng seseorang atau suatu hal; soal; perkara; 2 Ling a kategori gramatikal dr nomina, frasa nominal, pronomina, atau adjektiva yg menunjukkan hubungannya dng kata lain dl konstruksi sintaksis;

Verbatim
ver·ba·tim /vérbatim/ a kata demi kata; menurut apa yg tertuang dl tulisan

Empati
em·pa·ti /émpati/ n Psi keadaan mental yg membuat seseorang merasa atau mengidentifikasi dirinya dl keadaan perasaan atau pikiran yg sama dng orang atau kelompok lain;

Simpati
sim·pa·ti n 1 rasa kasih; rasa setuju (kpd); rasa suka: banyak negara yg menaruh -- kpd perjuangan bangsa itu; 2 keikutsertaan merasakan perasaan (senang, susah, dsb) orang lain: rakyat yg menderita akibat bencana alam itu mendapat -- dr berbagai kalangan;

ALFRED ADLER (ADLER)

2012-01-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Nama : Alfred Adler
Tmpt/Tgl Lahir : Wina, 7 Februari 1870
Profesi : Dokter penyakit dalam sekaligus psikolog.
Sejarah Hidup dan Karier

Addler lahir dari seorang ayah yang bernama Leopard Adler dari Burgenland dan ibunya berasal dari Moravia. Ia tamat dari sekolah kedokteran di Unversitas Viena pada tahun 1895. Pada tahun 1900 Adler mempelajari tentang simptom-simptom psikopatologi dalam kedokteran umum. Pada tahun 1902 ia bergabung dengan lembaga psikoanalisis Wina yang didirikan oleh Freud, menjadi anggota dan kemudian ketua Masyarakat Psikoanalis Wina.

Selama perang dunia pertama, Adler bekerja sebagai dokter pada laskar tentara Austria dan sesudah perang ia tertarik pada bimbingan anak-anak. Ia juga mendirikan sejumlah klinik bimbingan bagi anak-anak. Pada tahun 1935, Adler menetap di Amerika Serikat tempat ia meneruskan praktiknya sebagai psikiater dan menadi profesor dalam psikologi medis di Long Island College of Medicine. Ia meninggal di Aberdeen, Skotlandia pada tanggal 25 Mei 1937 ketika ia mengadakan perjalanan keliling untuk memberikan ceramah.

Alfred Alder sebagai seorang psikolog terkenal dengan teori psikologi individual.
Tema-tema pokok dar teori psikologi Adler, antara lain :

Mengenai perasaan Inferioritas, Adler mengemukakan dua sumber inferioritas yaitu inferioritas fisik dan inferioritas psikologi.
Kompensasi
Kemasyarakatan
Diri Kreatif
Penentu-penentu sosial kepribadian.

Alfred Adler's Theory

Anna Freud

2011-12-13T06:55:00.000-08:00

Nama :Anna Freud
Status : Anak Bungsu dari 6 bersaudara putri Sigmund Freud
Tempat Lahir : Vienna (Wina) Austrria
Tanggal Lahir : 3 Desember 1895
Meninggal : London, 8 Oktober 1982
Profesi : Psikoanalisis

Perjalanan Karier : Guru Sekolah dasar dan psikoanalisis, menjadi anggota psikoanalisis Viena ejak tahun 1922, aktif dalam perkumpulan Asosiasi Psikoanalisis Internatioal dan menduduki jabatan presiden kehormatan, Aktif mengajar pada tahun 1926 sampai dengan 1927 di Institut Psikoanalisis Vienna

Perjalanan Hidup dan Kariernya.

Kehidupan, hasil pikiran dan karyanya tumbuh bersama dengan kebesaran nama Sigmund Freud sang ayah yang mempunyai hubungan dekat dengannya. Sigmund Freud bukan hanya menjadi seorang ayah baginya, tetapi juga penasehat ilmiah yang selalu mengikuti perkembangannya.

Diawali dari mengikuti pelatihan sebagai guru sekolah dasar dan psikoanalisis. Sejak menjadi anggota Asosiasi Psikoanalisis Vienna tahun 1922 ia mempraktekkan dan mengajarkan psikoanalisis sejak saat itu.

Anna Freud mempraktekkan dan mengembangkan teori psikoanalisis yang diterimanya dengan memberikan seminar mengenai analisis anak, pembaharuan teknik, membahas kasus-kasus muncul. Dengan memfokuskan diri pada analisis anak, maka tidak heran jika Badan Pendidikan Kota Vienna pada tahun 1922 mengundangnya untuk memberikan kuliah bagi para pendidik dan orang tua.

Pada tahun 1938 Anna pindah dari Austria ke London sampai meninggalnya. Selama perang dunia II ia mendirikan dan memimpin The Hampstead War Nurseries, yang merupakan tempat penampungan untuk anak-anak pengungsi perang dan mereka yang tidak memiliki rumah. Dari aktifitas dalam menampung anak itulah ia bisa mengembangkan ilmunya dengan meng-observasi kehidupan dan perilaku anak-anak yang ditampungnya. Dalam pengamatan yang dilaporkannya setiap bulan menemukan suatu gejala penting bahwa tugas dan kehadiran seorang ibu sangat penting bagi perkembangan kehidupan mental seorang anak. Mereka juga menemukan bahwa anak akan bertahan dan merasa aman kalau mereka berada dekat ibu mereka dan kalau ibu mereka tidak menunjukkan tanda-tanda ketakutan.

Karya Anna Freud semasa Hidup dan Kariernya :

a. Children in the Hospital (1965), ditulis bersama dengan Bergman Thesi

b. Beyond The Best Interests of the child (1973), ditulis bersama Goldstein dan Solnit.

c. Introduction to Psychoanalysis: Lectures for child Analysis And Teachers (1966-1974), kuliah yang diberikan selama tahun 1922-1935.

d. Research at the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic and Other Papers (1956-1965, 1968)

e. Das Ich und die Abwehrmechanismen (1936, 1966), edisi bahasa inggrisnya: The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense.

f. Infants Without Families: Reports On The Hampstead Nurseries (1939-1945 1973, dituis bersama Dorothy Burlingham.

g. Indications for Child Analysis and Other Papers (1945-1956, 1968)

h. Normality and Pathology in Childhood: Assessments of Development (1965, 1970)

i. Research at the Hampstead Child Therapy Clinic and Other papers (1956-1965, 1968)

j. Problems Of Psychoanalysis Training, Diagnosis, and the technique of Therapy (1966, 1970, 1971).

Psychotherapy and Counseling

2011-11-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Counseling provides a focused and relatively quick way for clients to review, understand, and sort out their problems.

Talking about problems is an essential part of accepting them, coping with them, and then moving on. In the past, the family unit was larger and tended to stay together; whole networks of relatives across the generations were able to provide a supportive framework. Young mothers were not left on their own, men returning from work had someone to whom they could talk, and the burden of running a household was shared. Priests offered a listening ear to a community, and the local church was a much more social activity. Today, with increased financial pressures and expectations, as well as a smaller family unit, many people find themselves virtually alone. The carefully structured network of friends, family, and fellow parishioners no longer exists to the same extent that it once did. Families have become isolated units, and urban living has resulted in communities where people do not even know their neighbors. Environmental and social factors make modern day living more stressful than ever, but there are fewer and fewer releases available.The result is that people are unable to express emotions on a daily level; they bottle up their feelings, causing stress- and anxiety-related symptoms and illnesses. Supportive counseling offers a chance to release the emotions, by talking to someone who will be compassionate and practical, and who will above all listen. Counseling is not a new idea, but it has a new role as the pressures within society increase. Indeed, it has come to be recognized as crucial in the treatment of many conditions, including chronic medical problems, serious abuse, and long-term distress, such as that which is the result of involvement in large-scale disasters and traumas for both victim and observer.The most immediate effect of good counseling is the gratifying experience for the client of being heard fully, maybe for the first time. This generally leads on to the relieved disclosure of present or long-term difficulties, and possibly also of hitherto unrecognized feelings. The client finds that with increased self knowledge and understanding, changes in perception and behavior become possible.Once the situation has become clear, the work of counselor and client may then involve the setting of specific goals within a plan of action, to be implemented with support from the counselor. Alternatively, it may be directed toward the long-term future toward achieving greater flexibility, resilience, and strength, along with an improved repertoire of responses in relating to other people or to new situations which may occur.Types of CounselingProblem-Focused Counseling This provides help in overcoming aud learning to cope with a specific problem. It is usually a short-term therapy only.Developmental Counseling This centers on the individual rather than on problems. It aims at altering the client's attitude toward self and toward life, and is often a long-term procedure.Co-counseling In this type of counseling both client and counselor take turns to act as counselor. By listening and responding to the counselor-as-client for half the session, the client learns about his or her own emotions and mental processes.Problems That Can Be Helped by CounselingCounseling can be effective in helping people deal with decision -making (particularly professional or career decisions); a crisis or sudden overwhelming change, such as the unexpected breakup of a marriage; post-traumatic stress, where a person is beginning the process of recovery from a deeply shocking experience.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Psychic Counseling

2011-11-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

Psychic Counseling is a serious topic, or at least it should be. I’m not talking about 1-800 numbers here, or even the local palm reader. I mean real and effective counseling that includes, mental and emotional issues, such as avoiding pitfalls and bad relationships. Counseling that helps the individual make better progress in all aspects their life.

The use of psychic abilities to help someone improve their situation is nothing new. The rich and powerful often have advisors that warn them of potential difficulties and give them tips on how to get around them.

What I am presenting here goes one step further than that. Using psychic counseling as a way to help a person not only avoid dangers, but address deep emotional issues and make better choices. A process that is not as one-way as traditional psychic work, where the psychic tells the person what they perceive, with little meaningful interaction and almost no personal growth on the side of the client.

The counselor should provide more than raw psychic information. The person being helped should be coached to develop their own skills and intuitions, to use their own psychic skills and talents to better their life. They should be aided in, not just making good decisions right now, but in knowing how to make good choices in the future.

I am going to cover the psychic aspects of counseling at this point, for you to add to your personal repertoire of skills. Because of space considerations I will not go into issues that pertain only to counseling, even though they are equally important to this process. For ease of use I am going to break this down by specific component, though in a counseling environment, you will want to be using all of the separate parts more holistically for best results.

Preparation- Take the time to ready yourself before your client arrives (I am using client to describe the person being helped for ease of use, it could be your friend, family member or co-worker.) most people will be more at ease if you don’t meditate in front of them for the first five minutes they are there.

Start by relaxing and settling your mind into a meditative state. Don’t be afraid of going too deep. When you begin to talk to the other person your brainwave state will tend to rise somewhat anyway, so this should not be a problem.

Acknowledge your subconscious mind, by briefly holding a single concept, without words or pictures, for a few moments. Any concept will do. Since much of your work will have to be done on a conscious level, it is not of great benefit to plunge into deep conceptual processing at this point. Still, it will help your sensitivity, so make this part of your routine.

Take time to let go of your own preconceptions. Just accept that you may have some and set them aside. This will help your ability to perceive information that is somewhat foreign to your normal mode of operation.

Now that you are in a good starting place you will be able to better apply yourself to the counseling session.

Empathy/Telepathy- Since you are already in a light receptive state, it should be fairly easy to create an entrainment/resonance pattern with the other person. Since you are not going to be working in a deep trance state, catch the other persons eye for a few moments. It only takes a few seconds, since it is a natural process, allowing you to become more in synch with one another. Since you are most likely in a more mentally balanced and synchronized state than they are, due to your preparations, they will very likely pick up your mental pattern, making it easier to get a read on them later.

I am not going to tell you how to be an empath or telepath here (you can find out more about the topic in “Telepathy and Empathy: Getting started” by Dale Power.) rest assured though, that you have the capability to do these things, even without special training, as long as you stay relaxed and try! Practice and training help, but these are natural abilities you already posses.

As you speak to them, pay attention to any signals they are giving you. Remember that these signals may not always match what they are thinking on a conscious level at the time. Ask about these impressions, not to see if you are correct, but to see what they mean to the other person. Even things that do not make sense to you may be deeply important, so don’t shy away from what may seem to be a strange idea. Just ask them and see what happens.

Also, be aware of feelings of evasiveness or deception. Don’t hold it against the person if they try to hide embarrassing moments or feelings, this is natural, but do address it and point out it may be happening. With feedback they may be able to correct themselves.

Data tracing/linking- Often people will describe to you situations and individuals that are important to them. From their thoughts and descriptions of people and events you can gain direct information about how these other people actually feel and the true nature of the situation. This deeper understanding will allow you to aid your client in dealing with specific situations correctly. By asking careful questions you can cause your clients subconscious mind to supply you with honest information about what they should be doing in regard to these specific individuals and topics.

Part of your job, once you have this information, is to lead them to realize what they already know, with as little direct information as possible coming from you. Don’t tell them, for instance, “You like this person romantically, but they don’t feel the same way about you”. Instead ask questions around the situation until they come to the conclusion on their own. This assumes your understanding of the information is correct of course. It is possible to misinterpret things, even with absolutely correct information, which is another reason to take care in your statements! It is possible, for instance, that their subconscious mind will present to you the common feelings of the person on an issue, rather than the facts of the situation. If they often feel that no one likes them, lets say, it may look from the information they give you, that no one does, even though this is a false perception on their part! Try and make sure that your interpretation does not negatively impact the session, or the person, just as a general course of action.

Precognition- In their description of events to you, it is common to get a fairly clear sense of how a situation is going to turn out. You may be able to determine what will go well for them, as well as what is doomed to failure.

While you can warn them of what might work and what won’t, it is important to help them generate a specific plan of action, if they are going to make the best use of your warning. Make sure that they understand the situation and what their options are. Coach them in making a solid plan, including contingencies for unwelcome events. Any strategy generated by your client will have a greater impact on them and more likely be followed to completion. This does not ensure success, of course, but they will have a better chance at changing the direction of events with this foreknowledge and proper planning.

It is also possible to foresee health and emotional troubles well before there are any external signs. Some problems may indeed be needful to the growth of the person involved, so try to be sensitive to such situations, but many problems can be fixed well before they happen, saving grief all around.

Entrainment- As the other person is already entrained to you, it is possible to guide them to deeper states of mind, to a more complete connection with their own subconscious mind, by controlling your own thoughts.

By slowly moving into a deeper more synchronized state, you will draw them into a similar level as well. Once there, if you slowly and carefully begin to pay more attention to the conceptual content of thought, they will, on certain levels, do the same.

This will tend to make them more aware of themselves and what they need to do in life. Which will, in turn, allow them to deal with any problems they may have more effectively.

I know that this sounds easy to accomplish and with practice and attention to detail, it really is fairly straight forward, as all of these methods are based on naturally occurring processes. Still it takes some effort and the ability to get your own ego out of the way to be highly effective. Lack of ego involvement allows you to give advice suited to your client, rather than what you think they should do, based on your own opinion and preconceived notions of correct living.

This kind of work is, perhaps, the future of psychic ability. It combines a wonderful level of service to others with solid technique and utility that is easily seen by many people. All things that psychic work has been accused of lacking in the past.

This article and other helpful information can be found at : http://healing.worldispnetwork.com Please feel free to use this or any other materials on the site as you wish. We only ask that you reproduce this article as a whole, including the above link. Thank you.

Article Tags: Psychic Counseling, Other Person

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dale Power is a psychic healer, researcher and educator that has been focusing on ways to improve psychic functioning in humans for the last twenty years.

Go to: http://healing.worldispnetwork.com to find out more about the work being done.

Hypnotherapy Used In Counseling

2011-11-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Counseling is an incredible way to get a unique perspective on your thought processes and the overall experiences that you are currently enduring. However, it wasn’t until I began experimenting with hypnotherapy in coordination with my counselling sessions that I truly began breaking ground on some of my core issues. There are not many avenues in alternative medicine that can generate the kind of results that this practice generated for me.

Because I have seen such incredible results, I wanted to share my experience and help to encourage others to consider the implementation of hypnotherapy, as it helped me to relax and take an objective look at the areas that I wanted to improve. And, while I understand that this may seem a bit “outside of the box” for some, I felt that it was prudent to outline the various ways that counselors implement hypnosis and how it can help you. Understanding the ‘State of Consciousness’ When exploring the various ways that we can alter our perceptions and gain perspective on our actions and lifestyle, it is important to understand that the subconscious mind can hold us back.

Often times, we are seeking relief from self-destructive behaviors or other negative thoughts or actions. Accessing the subconscious mind can help to alleviate these stresses and get the conscious mind working in coordination with the subconscious and vice-versa. If these differing states of consciousness are properly organized, the negative thoughts and self-defeating habits will fall by the wayside, leading to a clearer mental state and a more productive lifestyle overall. Uncovering ‘Core Beliefs’ Core beliefs are thought patterns that have developed over our lifetime.

The experiences and teachings from your childhood have a direct impact on the individual you are today. When a psychotherapist is able to access this realm of your mind, they can better understand how you think, which in turn can help them develop a plan of action for you to “undo” specific patterned behaviors that you deem unnecessary or harmful. The primary goal of counselling is to help you better articulate your feelings and expose any self-destructive thoughts or habits, giving you a solid plan of action to improve your lifestyle in general. Of all of the various counselling options that are currently available, anyone that is having trouble kicking specific habits will find the practice very helpful. A good hypnotherapist can help you with quitting smoking, alcohol abuse, or negative approaches that are affecting your social life. Just about anything that you deem self-destructive can be aided by these professionals. All of this being said, however, how can you determine which behaviors are affecting you the most? This is why the counselling aspect is an integral part of a successful game plan.

A therapist can help you uncover any specific, imbedded issues that are causing you harm. And, after sessions centered on uncovering the sources of these issues, hypnotherapy can help you to eliminate their impact on your personal relationships. Plenty of information is stored by the human brain in subconscious levels, which is why access to such information can be difficult, yet very important. Hypnotherapists are experienced in the workings of biological psychology, and understand the necessary techniques to help you access this information. When coordinated with counselling, the entire experience can generate incredible results, as I can attest to. I visited several therapists over the years and could never understand why the “core issues” that were holding me back continued to linger. It wasn’t until a psychotherapist helped me, and my therapist, unlock the experiences from my past that were affecting my future that I started to see results. If you are conflicted internally, remember: there are professionals out there that can help you uncover your true potential and eliminate any negatives in your past!

I recently realized that hypnotherapist melbourne would be good for dealing with some issues. I decided to use a professional counsellor who knows what he's doing.

Hypnotherapy Used In Counseling by EUGENE YENG

Stress Counseling

2011-09-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

by: Michael Logan
Stress counseling is a significant part of my practice, and you may ask what stress counseling means.

Stress is the internal physiological response we have subsequent to a thought about any event in the external world, and stress counseling would be the process of teaching a client how to pay attention to the subtle shifts inside the body, and deciding whether or not to keep them. Generating eustress rather than distress. The stress counseling process is a little like the process we go through when we steer a car, with lots of little shifts in speed and position of the vehicle on the road.

In my anger management workshops, I tell my clients that it is very possible to view even a windfall like winning the lottery as a problem and create stressful physiology by thinking the total winnings are "not enough".

Stress counseling needs to include information on how fast my perceptions happen, (1/18th or 1/25th second depending on whether you are reading Cszikszentmihalyi or Ekman, which is twice as fast as I can blink my eyes), and how we are built in terms of responding to nonverbal cues like tone of voice and facial expressions, such as contempt.

Paul Ekman has studied facial expression for 24 years I believe, and he reports that expressions like contempt are responded to with stress chemistry across cultures.

In other words, my response to contempt is a human response not mitigated by culture.

I really like the computerized tool of heart rate variability biofeedback as a stress counseling tool.

This heart rate variability biofeedback tool gives me information on my computer about the time between my heart beats, and how what I am thinking about and how I am breathing impacts my stress hormones or more importantly, my 'contentment' hormones.

So if you are thinking that you can begin to engineer your internal response to life situations by paying attention to your thinking and feelings heart beat by heart beat, you would be correct.

Seem like too short a time to slow down? After all, heart beats might happen once per second, but your central nervous system works at least 18 times faster.

The good news is that you have been successful at this process thousands of times over your life.

For example, my daughter who is four years old, meandered into my office last night while I was working, without my noticing, and when she spoke, I was startled way beyond the usual startle response, and I could feel even as I jumped in my chair, a recognition of her voice and a realization that I was not in danger, and the starting of a calming.

Most of our startle or stress responses are handled naturally by the body, quickly, efficiently, as we interpret our situation as non-dangerous.

Stress becomes problematic when I keep the "danger" interpretation of physiolgy going too long.

For example, I was reading in our local paper how restaurants are going to respond to increased beef prices. I laughed a bit, because I know this will be stressful for my wife and children who are big fast food folks. They will worry and fuss about how to get the msg laden fast food and still pay cheap prices. Cannot be done.

I will stress about the high cost of beef in my crock pot. But maybe I can learn to cook some soups and breads to fill up on.

That later thought helps me calm down, because I love baking my own bread and cooking stews and soups.

What has all that got to do with heart rate variability biofeedback? Stess Counseling on the computer or on the hand held emWave unit, gives me real time feedback about my stress response internally. I can see myself move out of coherence, which is a consistent amount of time between heart beats, and back into coherence, when I change my thoughts to something more pleasant and take a few deep breaths.

Most folks are pretty amazed to see the coherence information on the computer screen. They are amazed at how fast the internal change is, and how subtle the experience of moving into and out of coherence is, and how easy it is to manage, once one learns to pay attention to the inside more than the outside.

After all, my experience of reality exists only inside my head, and it is different than yours too. That is where all sensory data is processed.

My heart has a very sophisticated nervous system which can learn independently of my cranial brain.

That is amazing information which was unknown not too many years ago, and I can train heart intelligence to respond by regulating my heart beat with either deep breathing or pleasant thoughts or both, so once my heart intelligence learns this process, I can induce or cue the relaxation response associated with coherent heart beat for the heck of it, just to feel good.

I can make it a habit to cue the relaxation response every five minutes or so, for a couple of heart beats in order to feel good.

Oh, and the internal hormonal bath accompanying the heart rate variability biofeedback is DHEA, the anti-aging hormone.

Anti-aging is an inside job. Yes, it is, as is stress counseling, and I can learn to steer my heart beat so that it is on cruise control.

About The Author
Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and a licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing.

http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Transformational Counseling

2010-05-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

by: Dr Harry Henshaw

Transformational Counseling is a process of assisting others to transform their lives. Transformational Counseling is a process of assisting others in their reinventing themselves, of creating a life that they love and living it powerfully. Transformational Counseling is a process of creating a space for others to get present to or become aware of their self limiting belief, to create or invent a possibility for themselves and their life that could not have existed before and to learn how to be in their possibilities as opposed to being that which has always stopped them in the past.

The development of transformational counseling has been the result of my work in counseling, psychotherapy, coaching, hypnosis, neuro linguistic programming, the work of Louise Hay and especially Landmark Education. To understand and be able to utilize the technology of Transformational Counseling with others, of being able to make a true difference in another person’s life, requires that one understand or get certain concepts or distinctions about what it is to be a human being and reality itself. While the distinctions of Transformational Counseling are initially presented separately, it is in their practice or communication with another that a true synergy is reached and it’s potential or power actualized for the client. For the counselor as well as the client the synergistic learnings that take place within Transformational Counseling is nonlinear in nature.

The clients that I work with are all experiencing a loss of power, freedom and full self-expression in one or many of the various domains of their life. The clients that I see are all being stopped in living a life that they love and living it powerfully. If they continue being as they have been being nothing will change, life will be as it has always been. They will remain stuck and unable to reach their true potential in life. The clients that I coach or counsel know that something needs to be different in their life but are unsure of what that something is all about, of what is not working, of what is missing, of what needs to happen. It is in assisting a client to discover or become present to that which has been causing their depression, sadness, anger, frustration, etc. and to learn how to create a new way of being that the work of Transformational Counseling is all about.

One of the fundamental distinctions of Transformational Counseling is that our thoughts are very important, if not the most important component of what it is to be a human being. We tend to believe that the external world, or what we commonly believe to be reality, is that which is truly important. As a result of such a belief, we are constantly engaged in trying to change something in the external world, constantly believing that this type of activity will bring us true happiness and contentment in our life. Within Transformational Counseling, it is our thoughts or thinking that is of immense importance to us and our process of living. It is our thoughts and thinking patterns that literally shape or determine our feelings, behavior, experiences and our reality. More specifically, it is our thoughts that we have about ourselves that tends to create or shape our experiences, that forms the background of our life and our sense of reality. It is from the thoughts that we initially create about ourselves that we subsequently develop into a belief about who we think we are, our self-image, of how we define our very being and it is from this belief that we live our life. A belief is merely a thought that we think is true or real, that expresses some sense of ontology.

Inside the conversation of Transformational Counseling it is also important to understand that we are truly responsible for the thoughts that we have, including and especially those that we have about ourselves. We literally invent or create all of our thoughts including those that we have about ourselves and with them our feelings and behaviors. To truly get our responsibility in how we create our experiences or reality is to also get how we create or invent all of our thoughts about ourselves and with it our reality. Reality itself has no meaning outside of what we give it. We are, as human beings, meaning making machines, beings that wrap meaning around everything in our life, including and most importantly about ourselves. Being responsible for our thoughts, getting it that we create them, is completely different from the experience of guilt or blame. It is not that we are to blame for our experiences but merely that we do create what we think about ourselves, who we think we are, how we feel about ourselves and how the world appears to us. There is a distinction between responsibility and blame or guilt.

What we tend to think about ourselves has at its core what can be referred to as our self-limiting belief. The self-limiting belief is a thought that we have about who we think we are, that defines our identity at its core, a belief that was developed between the ages of three to six approximately. During this time frame in our journey through life something happened, an event took place and it is from that event that we developed or created a thought or belief about ourselves. The original event is not so much of importance as the fact that we created a belief about ourselves, a belief that has actually limited us in life. The self-limiting belief is a sense of inadequacy, an idea or thought that something is wrong with us, that something is broken. Once this self-limiting belief is created or invented we tend to live our lives as if it were true. Our self-limiting belief is a fundamental, core belief that we have about ourselves, about who we think we are, that creates our feelings about ourselves, affects our behavior and determines our experiences.

Our self-limiting belief affects our behavior in that we are constantly trying to fix it. For example, if ones self-limiting belief is that the individual is “not enough”, that person will constantly try to be “enough”, constantly be doing things to compensate for what or who they think they are. While an individual is constantly attempting to fix it, the self-limiting belief is also in the process of fulfilling upon itself, of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, of causing the person to be “not enough.” Given the fact that ones self-limiting belief is hidden from them, from their view, we are not aware of its existence or its affect on our life, of its influence or impact on our life. Even though it is not true, not real, we believe it to be so and as a result the self limiting belief is that which keeps us stuck, keeps us living in the past, prevents us from living a life that we love and living it powerfully. Our self-limiting belief is in a very real sense our personal affirmation, an affirmation that is embedded in our “self talk”, an affirmation that determines how we tend to feel about ourselves, an affirmation that guides and determines our behavior in life, that defines our very way of being and how we appear to the world.

The first goal of Transformational Counseling is to assist an individual in becoming present to his or her self-limiting belief, of bringing it into ones awareness. It is this distinction or awareness of ones self-limiting belief that is crucial to his or her transformation. Without such awareness ones future will be as it has been, will be what can be referred to as the “probable almost certain future”. Without such awareness, ones future will merely be the past and even with a constant attempt on the individual’s part to fix the self-limiting belief, his or her life will merely be to continue with its fulfillment and actualization in their experiences and life. Awareness of ones self limiting belief can be gotten by the person experiencing its genesis or the originating event and with it the belief that the person invented or created about themselves at that time. An individual can also become present to the self-limiting belief by monitoring his or her spoken word. The self-limiting belief exists in our language, in the words we say or speak. Mirror work will also facilitate this type of awareness as ones self-limiting belief exists inside the feelings that one will become present as the individual observes his or her image. Regression can also be utilized to assist one in getting the genesis of his or her self-limiting belief.

Once one becomes present to his or her self-limiting belief, the opportunity then exists, possibly for the first time in the person’s life, to invent a possibility for his or her life, to begin to reinvent his or her life anew. An individual’s possibility is how that person will be in the present, free of the constraints or barriers of the past, a creation from nothing. Within Transformational Counseling, an individual’s possibility is a new or different way of thinking about himself or herself, of who they are, of who they will be. Like the individual’s self-limiting belief, a person’s possibility is a personal affirmation or declaration. Like a person’s self limiting belief, an individual’s possibility also exists in language, and once generated by the individual, will begin to create or invent his or her experiences and sense of reality through the power of his or her thoughts and word. Unlike a person’s self limiting belief, an individual’s possibility will allow him or her to create a life that they truly love and be able to live it powerfully.

The third component of Transformational Counseling has to do with the individual learning what Landmark Education refers to as the process of enrollment. Given that a person will either live life as his or her possibility or their self-limiting belief, there will be a tendency for a person to go back to or stay in his or her self-limiting belief. This is what is very familiar to us, that is, being our self-limiting belief in our daily life. Learning the process of enrollment will assist the individual in being able to get out of his or her self-limiting belief and back into their possibility. When we have a breakdown, we have gone back into being our self-limiting belief and as we do so will truly experience a loss of power, freedom and full expression that is from the past. It is in our breakdowns that we are being inauthentic, that the self-limiting belief becomes hidden again. The process of enrollment allows the person to become authentic about how he or she has been being inauthentic, to again become present to his or her self-limiting belief, and in the process to continue generating his or her possibility or invent a new one for themselves and their life.

The implementation or practice of Transformational Counseling with a client takes place inside a conversation about integrity. Integrity is simply planning your work and working your plan. Clients are encouraged to develop a written plan, a plan for their daily life. A written plan allows the client to take on creating or reinventing themselves and their life in a new way that supports their wellness. Implementing ones plan also allows them to confront that which has always stopped them in the past. As clients begin the process of fulfilling on their plan, of working it, of living the life that they desire, they will have a tendency to get stopped, to have a breakdown and as they do so will develop an inauthenticity, living life as they once did, from the backdrop of the self-limiting belief. It is in working with a client and his or her plan through the enrollment process that he or she has the opportunity to learn how to get out of their self-limiting belief and back into their possibility and truly transform their life. For the client the process of enrollment is the practice of continuing to experience a true sense of power, freedom and full self-expression. It is through staying in and working with ones integrity that a person will have the opportunity to stay committed to living a life that they love and living it powerfully.

The conversations that take place with a client are conducted within the language used through my personal training and development with Landmark Education. These conversations are done so by design. While it is important for a client to begin to act and behave differently, it is crucial that they begin to think differently too. The language used in Landmark Education is unfamiliar and tends to create a space, at least initially, of confusion. This confusion acts as a pattern disruption for the client, causing him or her to start to seriously question what is being said, the meaning of the conversation. It is through this confusion and questioning by the client that they will have the opportunity to become present to their very thought process, to that which has been the true cause in the matter for them, to that which has been creating their experiences and their sense of reality, especially as it applies to how they have been thinking about themselves, the basis of how they have been being and way of life.

As the client begins to live a life of transformation it is also important that the counselor or coach be very present to the client’s tendency to acknowledge or thank them for their assistance. As a counselor or coach I let the client know that I can not fix or help them, that they must do this work if they are to live a life that they love and live it powerfully. In my work with clients I make a stand for the client to assume total and complete responsibility with true empowerment as the goal. To step over the client acknowledging the coach or counselor is essentially the same as encouraging a client to use a blame pattern. As with blaming, thanking another for this type of work does not allow the client to truly get it that he or she is the cause in the matter and in both instances the client will not experience his or her true sense of power, freedom and full self expression. The client is truly responsible for transforming their life and it is vital to the process that they get this completely.

Transformational Counseling is an extremely powerful technique for assisting others in making a true difference in their life. For a client it is a gradual awakening to that which has truly been the cause in the matter, to that which has created and shaped their thoughts, feelings, behavior, experiences and sense of reality. To assist a client in being able to stand in their possibility, of being the possibility of “acceptance, freedom and creativity”, as opposed to their self-limiting belief, of being “not enough”, will allow that individual to live a life that they love and live it powerfully. When used in conjunction with other techniques, such as mirror work, positive affirmations, therapeutic relaxation music, self-hypnosis and NLP patterns, a space is created for a client to transform his or her life forever.

In addition to learning the fundamental distinctions and process of Transformational Counseling, it is also important for the counselor or coach to have an experiential understanding of this technology. To truly make a stand for a client and be able to make a difference for another will necessitate that the counselor have gotten his or her self-limiting belief, have invented new possibilities for himself or herself and also to have learned the process of enrollment. Being able to assist another in the process of transformation can only be achieved when the counselor or coach is in his or her own personal transformation. For me this journey started when I enrolled in the Landmark Forum. It was through experiencing the Forum and the curriculum that followed that the process of transformation began for me as a counselor and more importantly as a human being. Within the conversation of transformation we are merely human beings assisting other human beings to transform their lives, to live a life that they love and to live it powerfully.

Harry Henshaw, Ed. D., LMHC
http://www.enhancedhealing.com

About The Author

Dr Harry Henshaw is in private practice in North Miami Beach, Florida. http://www.enhancedhealing.com.

info@enhancedhealing.com

Christian Spiritual Counseling

2010-05-27T12:23:00.001-07:00

by: Charlotte C. Greathouse
Christian Spiritual Counseling is different from regular counseling. Regular counseling gives you a solution (the act, method, or process of solving a problem or the answer to a problem) to the problem, but spiritual counseling gives you the antidote (anything that works against an evil or unwanted condition) to the problem. It fixes the problem once and for all. The scripture says that If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. I Chronicles 7:14

The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. Psalms 33:11 God's counsel never changes it is for all generations the past, present and future. God's word never changes, we as people change. God is no respect of person what he does for one He will do for another. Life my get you down at times but the counsel of God will lift you up.

A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: Proverbs 1:5. You are wise if you are a good listener and eager to learn your knowledge will increase for your good. Someone with good understanding will seek out wise counsel. A wise Counselor is someone who the Lord's spirit shall rest upon, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; Christian Counselors should attain these attributes in order to give effective counseling.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: Ephesians 1:11 The Lord has a plan for all of us. It is in Him that we learn who we really are and what we are living for. He is working in you so that you can live up to your full potential that He placed in you. Christian counseling can help you with the plans God has for your life. Plans to make you succeed not fail to give you a more enjoyable and abundant life.

Christian counseling is based on the word of God not some theory. His word has been counseling people for over 2000 years and it will never change it will always stay the same. Just look around you today the world is in utter chaos our forefathers must have known something when they put In God We Trust on American money. We started trusting man instead of God and things got chaotic.

And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. Judge 18:5 Years ago people use to seek out God for all the answers to their questions. Don't get me wrong many still do today myself included. People would seek counsel from someone with a close relationship with God like a priest to ask question to see if their plans would be successful. Proverbs 11:14 says Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of Counselors there is safety. When people don't seek right counsel there is great confusion amongst them; but with wise counseling your life will be secure.

Christian Spiritual Counseling to encourage and give hope through scripture and wisdom from above. We counsel the spirit, body and soul through God’s word. Spiritual Counseling that will set you free from bondage through the scripture.

About The Author
Christian Spiritual Counseling from above.
http://www.ether.com/CallButton/johnsonk123/8672521.aspx
http://www.ether.com/CallButton/Charlotte-Greathouse/8645653.aspx
1-888-693-8437ext. 03316141 Keona
1-888-693-8437ext. 03298610 Charlotte
http://angeliccounselling.wordpress.com

A Model for Therapeutic Counseling

2010-05-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

by: Michael Logan

When I think of how I want clients to leave their first therapeutic counseling session with me, I want them to feel more hopeful and a bit of excitement.

I almost always start a therapeutic counseling session with a question like this one, "What has changed since your call to schedule?" because change actually begins before that, when the contemplation begins.

I want to assure clients that they are not "crazy" and that together we are going to find some tools which they can apply to their thinking and feeling and behavior which will take them toward their goals.

And then therapeutic counseling usually involves listening, because most clients have a story to tell, and the listening may be all they need.

I remember back to my early days as a detox. counselor in an alcohol and drug treatment center when the psychologist supervising us said that most clients already know the answer to their issue, and that we as professionals were not required to wave magic wands or have magic potions available, and that is so true.

Many clients will report that they feel much better after the telling of the story, and many may not even return after unburdening themselves.

To me, therapeutic counseling speaks to some self-mastery experiences.

So I look for ideas from research that have not yet become mainstream, and I might just try them out for myself, and if the tool has some validity, or the book has some bearing on the client's situation, for example, I will suggest that they look for information or try them out, so that client's develop a sense of efficacy, some confidence that they can impact their thinking and feelings consistently.

In fact, I really like to use the solution oriented brief therapy model at this stage of the therapeutic counseling process so we can remember a time when this issue was handled effectively.

I love to read a bit from Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi's book FLOW to, if appropriate, about how the Central Nervous System processes those photons that cross the lens of the eye and excite the rods and cones in the back of the eye, those sound waves that vibrate the ear drum, the pressure of the chair and clothes on your skin, which is 1/18th second, and work with clients to discover how to change their interpretations of their sensory experience.

From there, we can begin to look at Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) or any number of paths to the goal the client wishes to achieve.

Often clients are unsure at this point that they can effectively manage thoughts and feelings for sustained periods of time, so this is where I like to teach or demonstrate heart rate variability biofeedback.

Your heart has a brain of its own, actually a sophisticated nervous system that has enough neurons to learn and make decisions independently of any other brain I have, and with a few practices on the computer, clients can see themselves managing the time between their heart beats, or the heart rate variability coherence, by paying attention to their thinking or feeling and a quick little mental check list called the Freeze Framer, and when they see that happening for sustained periods of time, and then report using it away from my office, their confidence that they can make a feeling and thinking and behavioral difference increases dramatically.

So the heart rate variability biofeedback tool helps clients to understand the extent of their potential success at feeling good early and often.

They have a success to hang their hat on, and a success that feels good too.

Clients are able to continue their inner exploration with renewed confidence.

I also like to teach at this point in the therapeutic counseling process that heart rate variability biofeedback coherence training is an important part of the process of growing new neurons, which we now know that we do every day.

The term for that process is neurogenesis, and it, along with neuroplasticity, can be encouraged by those of us who are taking care of the "pillars of brain fitness".

So a client who is struggling with depression or anxiety or anger or addictions, for example, can get a sense of confidence about their ability to grow new neurons and new behaviors by attending to their brain fitness?

I say yes, and then I might recommend that clients read an excellent e-book called Brainfit for Life which goes into some detail about the pillars of brain fitness and how attending to them increases neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to rewire itself, sometimes within minutes, when presented with a novel learning experience.

A novel learning experience is usually characterized as the kind of learning experience I have when I learn a new language or a new instrument, because of the increasing level of challenge and opportunity for the appropriate amount of positive feedback.

The authors of Brainfit for Life also talk about how computerized brain fitness programs may fit within the novel learning experience pillar of brain fitness, and go into some detail about research on the dual n back task, which has been shown to increase fluid intelligence, and can even translate into an increased IQ.

I think that therapeutic counseling can benefit by brain fitness training also.

While clients are dealing with emotional and cognitive issues, their increasing mastery of heart rate variability biofeedback and the dual n back task are increasing confidence in a their ability to impact themselves positively in important areas of their lives.

More good news, there are other brain fitness programs out there to include in the pillars of brain fitness training.

If clients are attending to all the pillars, which are physical exercise, nutrition, sleep, stress management, and novel learning experiences, you should see a significant improvement in efficacy across the board, which is what therapeutic counseling is all about.

About The Author
Michael S. Logan is a brain fitness expert, counselor, a student of Chi Gong, and a licensed one on one HeartMath provider. I enjoy the spiritual, the mythological, and psychological, and I am a late life father to Shane, 10, and Hannah Marie, 4, whose brains are so amazing.
The author invites you to visit:
http://www.askmikethecounselor2.com

Respek Yang Memprihatinkan

2010-03-23T21:36:00.000-07:00

Ada orang yang menolong dengan sungguh tetapi di tolak bahkan dicurigai, ada yang menolong dengan menyewa jurnalis agar diliput. Ada yang pura-pura menolong tetapi ada maunya, ada yang tulus hati menolong tetapi tidak mendapatkan tempat.
Begitulah kehidupan sekitar kita. Tidak bisa memang kita menyalahkan begitu saja, tetapi bagaimana caranya agar kehidupan lebih baik dan respek dilakukan sesuai dengan kebutuhan dan tepat pada waktunya. Apa itu respek ? Anda bisa melihatnya kembali pada postingan sebelumnya tentang respek.
Sayang sekali respek yang diperlihatkan orang pada umumnya sekarang ini sungguh memprihatinkan. Tidak banyak orang yang benar-benar tulus memperlihatkan respek (perhatiannya) kepada orang lain.

Kalau toh ada, sudah kalah dengan peristiwa atau kekuasaan.

Kelola Stress Anda

2010-01-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

Dunia kita terus berubah, pola kehidupan kita pun berubah secara drastis. Orang dipacu bergerak dengan cepat, seakan waktu tidak cukup mengimbangi gerakan perubahan hidup kita. Karena kehidupan yang serba cepat inilah yang seringkali memicu timbulnya stress. Sekarang ini stress menjadi kata umum di telinga kita. Bahkan tidak hanya orang dewasa yang mengalaminya, anak-anakpun mengalami stress oleh karena gaya hidup masa kini.

Stress sampai batas tertentu adalah baik karena merangsang kita menghadapi tantangan baik di tempat kerja maupun di rumah. Menjadi tidak baik bila stress melewati batas-batas tertentu itu.
Jika Anda merasa cemas sepanjang waktu, mulai ingin tidur terus-menerus melupakan kerja, memiliki masalah pencernaan, atau kenaikan berat badan, mungkin itu tandanya anda sedang stres. Oleh karena itu mengelola stres menjadi sangat penting dalam kehidupan semua orang. Bila hal itu terjadi pada anda sekarang, segera bangun (sadar) dan ambil tindakan supaya hidup anda kembali normal. Langkah-langkah dibawah ini mungkin bias membantu anda dalam mengelola stress :
Identifikasi Sumber Stres:
Pertama langkah paling penting dalam mengelola stres adalah identifikasi sumbernya. Pikir itu sangat mudah diucapkan daripada dilakukan, tetapi anda perlu mengambil waktu bertanya kepada diri sendiri beberapa pertanyaan berikut:
Apakah Anda mengambil terlalu banyak di tangan Anda?
Apakah stres sementara atau konstan?

Apakah Anda menyelesaikan pekerjaan Anda tepat waktu atau selalu berjalan setelah tenggat waktu Anda?
Apakah ada peristiwa mengubah kehidupan (seperti kematian, kerugian finansial, dll) terjadi dalam hidup Anda baru-baru ini?
Evaluasi jawaban Anda dan Anda mungkin dapat menentukan alasan untuk stres Anda.
Anda juga dapat memelihara catatan tertulis hari, waktu, alasan, dan rincian dari serangan stres. Lakukan ini selama seminggu dan Anda akan dapat menentukan alasan dan mencari cara untuk mengatasinya.
2. Belajarlah untuk Katakan 'NO' Dalam semangat kami untuk melakukan yang terbaik, kita terkadang lupa kata ajaib 'Tidak'. Tahu batas dan kemampuan Anda dan tetap berpegang pada itu, baik dalam profesional Anda atau waktu pribadi. Jika Anda merasa tidak mungkin bagi Anda, katakan 'NO'. Itu selalu lebih baik untuk melakukan hal yang dikelola daripada berakhir dengan stres dan kecemasan menyerang.
3. Menerima Hal-hal yang tidak bisa Berubah
Selalu ada beberapa hal di lingkungan kita yang tidak bisa kita ubah. Sebagai contoh, kita tidak bisa mengubah fakta bahwa hanya ada 24 jam dalam satu hari. Selalu ada hal-hal yang akan berada di luar kendali kita. Menekankan lebih dari situasi yang tidak terkendali ini tidak akan membantu Anda dengan cara apapun. Selalu mencoba dan melihat sisi positif dari situasi Anda dan mengubahnya menjadi sarana pertumbuhan pribadi Anda. Jika Anda merasa terlalu banyak dibebani dengan situasi Anda, berbicara dengan teman-teman Anda dan orang-orang terkasih.
4. Mengambil Waktu for Fun dan Relaksasi
Dalam jadwal yang padat hari ini kita lupa untuk tertawa, tersenyum, dan bersenang-senang. Hal ini sangat diperlukan bahwa kita mengambil waktu untuk bersantai dan bersenang-senang. Akhir pekan yang sempurna untuk ini. Melakukan hal-hal favorit Anda selama akhir pekan. Membaca buku yang bagus, pergi untuk pijat, menghabiskan beberapa waktu pada hobi Anda, atau menghabiskan waktu bersama anak-anak atau hewan peliharaan Anda.
Selain akhir pekan, juga sangat penting untuk melepas lelah dan bersantai di akhir setiap hari. Cara terbaik adalah dengan bermain dengan hewan peliharaan Anda, mandi lama-lama, menonton film favorit anda dll
5.Track Diet Anda
Diet tepat dan sehat adalah kunci untuk mempersiapkan tubuh kita untuk mengatasi stres sehari-hari. Selalu ingat untuk makan yang sehat dan seimbang. Sertakan banyak buah-buahan, sayuran, biji-bijian dalam diet anda. Hindari terlalu banyak makanan berlemak dan gula. Mulailah hari Anda dengan sarapan yang layak dan memiliki makanan bergizi sepanjang hari.
6.Latihan

Olahraga teratur adalah harus seperti itu membuat tubuh dan pikiran Anda siap untuk menghadapi tantangan hari. A 30-menit latihan tiga kali seminggu sudah cukup untuk membuat Anda tetap sehat secara fisik dan mental.
Lakukan ke-6 langkah diatas secara bertahap tetapi harus disiplin. Awalnya memang sulit tetapi jika anda mau mau berubah, saya yakin anda akan menemukan kehidupan normal kembali.
Lawan stress dan ambil kembali kehidupan normal anda.

Cara Memiliki Sikap Mental Yang Positif

2010-01-01T21:02:00.001-08:00

Memiliki sikap positif merupakan salah satu cara paling efektif untuk meningkatkan pendekatan Anda terhadap hidup dan penampilan. Kenapa kita perlu mempunyai sikap yang positif ?
Orang yang mempunyai sikap positif cenderung memancarkan energi yang menarik. Coba anda rasakan ketika berada di tengah orang-orang yang mempunyai sikap positif, energinya akan membangun kehidupan anda. Sedangkan jika anda terus-menerus berada di tengah lingkungan orang yang berpikir negatif maka energi anda akan terkuras habis. Akibatnya anda akan terlihat lebih tua dari umur anda sebenarnya.
Selain itu orang yang berpikir dan bersikap positif cenderung memiliki tingkat antibodi yang lebih tinggi, yang membantu melawan infeksi. Juga, pada umumnya, orang yang berpikir dan bersikap positif, hidupnya cukup optimis beberapa tahun lebih lama daripada pesimis.

Bagaimana caranya supaya Anda selalu mempunyai sikap yang positif ?
1. Perbanyaklah berkawan dengan orang-orang yang mempunyai sikap mental positif, maka anda secara tidak langsung akan terpengaruh dengan sikap hidup mereka.
2. Belajar untuk selalu tersenyum, sekalipun awalnya, senyuman anda adalah karena terpaksa. tetapi jika itu terus menerus anda lakukan, senyuman anda akan mengembang dengan sendirinya. Karena belajar tersenyum membantu untuk melatih otot-otot wajah Anda.
3. Jika Anda bangun merasa kecewa, cobalah untuk tidak memanjakan suasana kecewa itu. Segera cari sesuatu yang menarik di sekitar anda, misalnya setelah bangun pagi, anda bias langsung keluar rumah hiruplah udara yang segar. Ini akan membantu anda untuk menyegarkan pikiran dan suasana yang mengecewakan anda.
4. Kenakan pakaian favorit Anda, langsung mengangkat suasana hati Anda. Jika Anda tampil baik, ternyata dapat berhubungan dengan suasana hati Anda, karena Anda tahu bahwa Anda akan tampak baik untuk orang lain.
5. Cobalah untuk tidak terlalu khawatir tentang apa yang dipikirkan orang lain tentang Anda. Selama Anda merasa baik tentang diri Anda sendiri, yang positif akan selalu bersinar di jiwa anda.
6. Yakinkan bahwa diri anda lebih cantik daripada orang lain, ingat bahwa kecantikan itu adalah semata-mata karena keyakinan pribadi. Cobalah untuk mengendalikan bagaimana Anda melihat dan secara otomatis Anda akan merasa lebih percaya diri.

KONSELING YANG EFEKTIF DAN ALKITABIAH

2009-12-14T20:42:00.000-08:00

"Banyak orang yang dilayani dalam konseling sedang bersembunyi di balik berbagai bentuk lapisan pertahanan untuk melindungi suatu perasaan menerima diri sendiri (self acceptance) yang rapuh, untuk mencegah penolakan berikutnya atau kegagalan dalam mencapai identitas diri yang sudah cacat. Konseling mencakup usaha penyingkapan lapisan-lapisan pertahanan ini, kadang-kadang dengan lembut, kadang-kadang dengan paksa untuk memunculkan pribadi yang sebenarnya yang ada di dalamnya."

"Tesis saya adalah masalah-masalah berkembang ketika kebutuhan-kebutuhan dasar terhadap signifikasi (makna) dan sekuriti (rasa aman) terancam. Orang-orang mengejar gaya hidup yang tidak bertanggung jawab sebagai cara untuk bertahan melawan perasaan-perasaan tidak bermakna dan tidak aman. Dalam kebanyakan kasus mereka memiliki gagasan yang keliru mengenai apa yang menghasilkan makna dan rasa aman."

"Konseling adalah hubungan. Interaksi hubungan sangat beragam, tergantung dari temperamen, persoalan, dan kepribadian orang yang terlibat. Terhadap beberapa orang Anda melakukan konseling dalam suasana formal, sementara terhadap yang lainnya Anda mengambil suasana rileks dan hangat. Pada sebagian orang Anda secara langsung mengajar, terhadap yang lain Anda secara acak melakukan penggalian. Terhadap sebagian orang Anda memberikan tugas yang khusus yang berkaitan dengan perilaku, sementara terhadap yang lain Anda secara halus mendorong mereka menuju perubahan-perubahan sikap dan perasaan yang luas."

Harga : Rp. 23.200,-
Hubungi HP: 081329124154 - Sherly Ambarwati

DASAR-DASAR KONSELING PASTORAL

2009-12-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

Pelayanan konseling memiliki posisi penting dalam gereja. Sayangnya, pelayanan ini sering "dianaktirikan" dan dipandang sebelah mata. Padahal, melalui pelayanan konselinglah kita akan menemukan akar permasalahan yang menghambat pertumbuhan umat dalam mengenal dan menyerap kebenaran firman Allah.

Kerap kita mendengar jemaat mengeluh tidak diperhatikan, tidak dijawab kebutuhannya, dan tidak diberdayakan dengan baik. Seringnya umat berpiundah-pindah gereja menjadi salah satu indikasi bahwa gereja masih perlu banyak balajar untuk membuat "domba-domba" merasa aman dan dihargai. Nah, pelayanan konseling pastoral mempunyai peran besar untuk menjawab tantangan ini. Selama pelayanan kopnseling tidak berfungsi dengan baik, banyak umat yang terlantar dan tidak diberdayakan secara maksimal.

Buku ini menawarkan dasar-dasar yuang mudah dipelajari, terutama bagi orang-orang yang ingin atau sedang membuka pelayanan konseling pastoral. Bahasan yang sederhana dan kiat-kiat praktis yang dipaparkan akan mempermudah kita untuk mempelajari cara-cara mengonseling. Buku in juga bisa dijadikan pengantar pada kuliah konseling dasar.

Harga : Rp. 21.600,-

The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection (Basic Principles Into Practice Series) (Paperback)

2009-10-19T23:04:00.000-07:00

Product Description

Since its original publication in 1996, this volume has been a helpful guide to therapists in the practice of emotionally focused therapy. This second edition will address the many changes in the field of couples therapy, including updated research results linked to clinical intervention and new information on using EFT to address depression and PTSD. A new section covers the growth of couples therapy as a field and its overall relevance to the mental health field, accompanied by coverage of how recent research into the nature of marital distress is consonant with EFT. Other new features are a section of EFT and feminism, as well as a section and cultural competence for the EFT therapist. Written by a leading authority on emotionally focused couples and marital therapy, this second edition will be an up-to-date reference on all aspects of EFT and its uses for mental health professionals.

Product Price List, Click Here

Basic Counseling Techniques:: A Beginning Therapist's Tool Kit (Second Edition) (Paperback)

2009-10-19T22:31:00.000-07:00

List Price:	$~~18.98~~
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Product Description
"Yes, I know what the theory says, but what do I do with that client?" That is a question Dr. Wayne Perry often hears as he works with beginning counselors or therapists. It is the question Basic Counseling Techniques seeks to answer. Born out of Dr. Perry's more than twenty-years' experience training marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, and pastoral counselors, this book skips the theory and goes right for the practical application. Students in counseling or therapy training programs will find Basic Counseling Techniques an essential part of their studies. This textbook beings by providing practical suggestions for setting up the therapy room, using audio-visual recording equipment, and conducting those first critical interviews. Nine chapters provide the basic steps to actually applying nine different sets of clinical tools, and guidelines for selecting the appropriate tool for the appropriate clinical situation. This second edition also includes an entire chapter on the clinical thinking process, which can help beginning therapists sort through the myriad of options and select the "right" therapy for a particular client. That makes this textbook unique in the field. Each of the chapters concludes with a "Living Into the Lesson" section to give the reader experiential exercises to apply that chapter's skills.

About the Author
Wayne Perry is the Program Director of Amridge University's marriage and family therapy, pastoral counseling, and professional counseling programs. He is a Clinical Member and an Approved Supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), and a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC). He is licensed in Alabama as Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Approved Supervisor of Supervision. Dr. Perry earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Emory University, and he is currently completing a second doctorate in marriage and family therapy. Dr. Perry has more than 30 years experience as a therapist, currently active as a staff therapist with Samaritan Counseling Center. Wayne declares, "I love the academic work, but the clinical work is crucial to who I am. It keeps me grounded." He demonstrates that belief by averaging a case load of approximately 15 clients per week while maintaining his full time academic teaching load. In addition to a busy teaching and clinical practice, Dr. and Mrs. Perry frequently lead workshops for church and community groups. He has authored various articles in professional journals and popular magazines, and a weekly column in a local newspaper providing practical applications of all of this experience.

Anda Bisa Menjadi Konselor

2009-10-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

Menjadi konselor tidalah sulit, tidak harus belajar dahulu di sekolah khusus yang berhubungan dengan konseling, tidak harus mengikuti kursus formal.
Tetapi bisa anda lakukan sendiri, asal tekun dan mau belajar setiap waktu.
Dimana anda harus belajar ?

Belajarlah dari diri Tuhan Yesus Kristus. ketika Ia berkarya di dunia ini, diantara yang menderita, di belenggu dosa, terpinggirkan. Ia memperagakan diri sebagao seorang konselor yang luarbiasa.
Ia memperhatikan dengan belas kasihan, Ta tergerak hatinya untuk menolong, merawat, mencari, mendengarkan,memberi nasehat, memberikan kelegaan, duduk bersama dengan orang-orang yang dianggap masyarakat adalah sampah, makan bersama dengan para pendosa, mampu merasakan penderitaan sesamanya, mengambil bagian dalam kesakitan kita.
Jika anda mau belajar darinya, mungkin anda tidak perlu sebuah alat apapun, tidak perlu keahlian apapun yang anda perlukan adalah hati yang mau berbagi dengan sesama. Hati yang dilandasi dengan kasih Allah dan pengorbanan Kristus.
Jika anda mau meneladani-Nya, anda bisa menjadi konselor.

Kecelakaan itu mengubah hidupku

2009-10-19T20:04:00.000-07:00

Siapa sangka ketika aku kembali selepas mengantar orang tuaku ke terminal bus sebuah mobil pribadi menabrakku dari belakang. Sempat aku tidak sadarkan diri dan harus dibawa ke rumah sakit oleh orang-orang yang baik hati.
Di dalam ruang perawatan IGD beberapa waktu lamanya terasa gelap dan sunyi. Namun lamat-lamat ku dengar suara yang memanggil namaku, suara yang ku dengar tidak hanya satu tetapi beberapa suara.
Lama-kelamaan kesadaranku pulih dan ketika petugas kepolisian menanyakan bagaimana aku ditabrak. Aku bisa menceritakan dengan baik.
Setelah beberapa waktu di rawat di IGD aku diperbolehkan pulang. Namun sampai di rumah, aku melihat bahwa aku tidak dapat bicara tanganku sebelah kanan tidak dapat digerakkan sama sekali.
Aku teriak dalam hati, kenapa harus seperti ini, disaat aku sedang meniti karier. Tuhan membuat aku terluka.

Malam ketika aku dirumah, menjadi penderitaan yang sangat panjang aku rasakan. Akhirnya atas beberapa saran teman, aku harus kembali dirawat di rumah sakit.
Bibir dalamku harus di jahit 8 jahitan, tanganku harus dikembalikan pada posisinya karena engsel sikunya bergeser dan gigiku yang hampir copot empat harus di operasi dan diberi kawat penguat. Beruntung gigiku tidak dicabut tetapi bisa dikembalikan lagi.
Selintas dalam pikiranku muncul bayangan, aku tidak lagi tampan, aku tidak normal bicara, aku tidak bisa memakai tangan kananku untuk beberapa waktu lamanya.
Setelah semua penanganan, operasi dan perawatan di rumah sakit selesai, aku diperbolehkan dokter untuk pulang.
Justru setelah selesai perawatan itulah hidupku yang kedua (second live) mengalami perubahan.
Malam pertama dan malam-malam berikutnya setiap kali aku tidur tidak pernah merasakan kembali nyenyaknya orang tidur. Bagaimana tidak ? akibat tangan kananku yang sempat lepas engsel sikunya, mengakibatkan punggung sampai leher luar biasa sakitnya. Dalam ketidaksadaran tidurku gerakan tanganku membuat aku mengerang karena tarikan otot punggung dan leherku.
Setiap pagi dan sore ketika aku hendak mandi, sama sekali aku tidak bisa mengambil gayung dari tangan kananku. Beruntung aku masih bisa makan dan menulis dengan tangan kiriku karena memang aku juga terlatih sejak kecil menggunakan tangan kiri.
Selama dua pekan makananku air bubur yang aku telan melalui sedotan bahkan 2 bulan aku harus makan bubur karena aku tidak bisa mengunyah dengan baik. Kurang lebih satu tahun, dari mulai kecelakaan sampai aku sembuh total.
Di hari-hari dimana aku merasakan penderitaan sekaligus penyembuhan anggota tubuhku muncul kegalauan, ketidakgunaan, kehilangan arah muncul silih berganti menghampiriku.
Namun diantara kegalauan, perasaan tidak berguna, kehilangan arah aku masih bisa merenung-renungkan nasib hidupku bagaimana masa depanku, apa yang harus aku lakukan dengan perubahan tubuhku.
Di sela-sela tangis dan rintihan karena sakit aku masih bisa berdoa dan bersyukur kepada Tuhan bahwa Dia tetap menyelamatkanku. Di tengah perubahan tubuhku aku masih bisa berpikir jernih bahwa sebenarnya Tuhan sedang mendandani ulang arah hidupku.
Maka ketika kesadaran itu semakin nyata dan menjadi penguat pengharapanku, akhirnya aku pun bersuka cita dengan keadaanku bahwa memang Tuhan sedang memberikan kekuatan baru padaku.
Ia sedang membantuk karakterku, semangat hidupku, pemikiranku bahkan dari perubahan itu aku semakin yakin bahwa tubuhku yang sudah terluka masih berguna bagi sesama. Bahkan melalui Panggilan pelayananNya.

DISAAT AKU MERASA TIDAK BERGUNA

2009-10-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Kami ingin mempunyai tatanan sendiri……..kami sudah sepakat untuk keluar dari kelompok ini….ya kami sudah tidak bisa bekerja sama lagi dengan kalian…!!

Demikian teriakan-teriakan orang-orang yang dulu aku kenal santun, penuh hormat. Mereka meminta untuk keluar dari kerjasama yang selama ini sudah dibangun dengan baik. Ketika mereka teriak, aku pun sempat megimbangi mereka dengan kemarahan besar. Dua tahun sudah peristiwa itu berlalu dan sekarang semuanya berubah menjadi lebih baik.

Jika mengingatnya, aku tidak habis pikir kenapa orang yang kelihatannya santun dan penuh hormat bisa menjadi garang seperti preman jalanan. Tidak pakai cara-cara yang manis, memakai komunikasi yang baik dan aturan main yang sudah disepakati bersama. Aku pun tidak pernah mengerti kenapa itu terjadi di hadapanku dan menjadi pengalaman hidupku.

Diantara masalah-masalah hidup yang aku alami, masalah yang satu itu membuatku saat itu sangat terbeban bahkan sempat terbersit dalam hati ternyata aku tidak berguna.

Tidak berguna karena tidak bisa mengatasi, tidak lagi di dengar, di cemooh, di singkirkan bahkan di belakangku orang-orang membuat sebuah gerakan yang menentangku.

Sekalipun saat itu aku sempat menutup mata dan telingaku, tapi aku mengerti dari tatapan mereka yang tajam dan menyudutkanku seolah-olah aku yang menjadi biang semua masalah.

Aku pun sempat menghindar untuk tidak bertemu langsung dengan mereka, aku enggan dan tidak mau lagi bicara secara terbuka sebab aku berpikir toh tidak ada gunanya.

Namun seiring berjalannya waktu, aku tertolong dengan sehatnya mentalku dan cara berpikirku yang logis. Bahwa kebaikan seringkali muncul dari sebuah peristiwa yang buruk.

Akhirnya dengan legawa aku pun berani menata ulang organisasi dimana aku berkiprah, menata ulang dan mengarahkan ketidaknormalan hidup dalam tuntunan yang benar.

Berkomunikasi lagi dengan baik, bertemu dan tersenyum dengan lega dan bangga bahwa aku diperbolehkan olehnya dewasa.

Perasaan tidak berguna memang diperlukan juga untuk belajar menjadi berguna. Asalkan mata hati kita juga bisa dipergunakan untuk belajar melihat celah pengharapan.

Seringkali yang dilakukan oleh kebanyakan orang kan tidak demikian ?

Ada orang yang tidak mampu melihat celah-celah pengharapan saat semuanya terasa gelap karena duka atau perkara.

Ada orang yang tidak mau melihat celah-celah pengharapan karena celah yang ada munculnya di tengah-tengah lingkaran masalah yang melingkupinya.

Ada orang yang ingin terus lari dari kenyataan dan menghindari jalan keluar

Bahkan ada orang yang langsung ingin mematikan pengharapannya karena dirasa celah itu mustahil untuk di jadikan pegangan.

Cara Menghadapi Masalah

2009-10-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Apakah anda setuju dengan saya bahwa hidup kita semakin hari semakin berat ? Betul, anda ternyata setuju dengan saya.

Hidup kita setiap harinya semakin bertambah saja, banyak masalah yang kita hadapi baik itu dari keluarga, tempat kerja, dengan istri atau suami, dengan anak, biaya hidup yang semakin melambung padahal gaji tidak pernah naik, bencana alam, persoalan sosial, dsb.

Akibat dari beban yang berat itu, tidak sedikit orang yang merasakan terbeban, depresi, stress bahkan sakit jiwa, menderita sakit yang tidak mudah sembuh, kehilangan pengharapan dan ingin bunuh diri, dsb.

Persoalannya, bagaimana cara pandang kita terhadap suatu masalah. Apakah kita memandangnya bahwa masalah yang dihadapi sangat berat, tidak ada jalan keluar sama sekali, tidak ada orang yang bisa menolong. Alias selalu negative Atau …..

Masalah yang dihadapi pasti mempunyai jalan keluar, masih ada pengharapan, selalu positif.

Inilah yang sering dilupakan oleh kebanyakan orang, setiap kali menghadapi masalah selalu ditanggapi dengan salah.

Seharusnya sebagai orang beriman tidak demikian, anda harus mempunyai keyakinan bahwa setiap masalah pasti ada jalan keluar. Tinggal apakah kita mau untuk mencari jalan keluar tersebut, apakah kita mau memupuk keyakinan dan pengharapan kita sekalipun sedang menghadapi masalah. Oleh karena itu ikuti cara praktis dibawah ini, ketika anda sedang menghadapi masalah :

1. Berusahalah untuk sadar bahwa di dunia ini tidak ada orang yang hidupnya mulus-mulus saja termasuk anda. Dengan menyadari bahwa dalam kehidupan kita tidak terlepas dari masalah akan memampukan anda mengerti bahwa setiap langkah yang anda lakukan mengandung 2 konsekuensi yaitu mendapatkan hasil yang baik atau bisa mendapatkan hasil yang tidak menyenangkan yaitu timbulnya masalah.

2. Yakin dan percayalah bahwa masalah yang dihadapi seberapapun beratnya, pasti masih ada celah keluar yang dapat anda temukan. Sama seperti kalau anda melihat sebuah rumah yang terlihat tertutup rapat masih ada angin yang berhembus kedalamnya.

3. Pertimbangkan masak-masak segala resiko yang akan anda hadapi ketika anda sedang menjalankan tanggung jawab atau pekerjaan anda. Hal ini bertujuan untuk meminimalkan masalah yang mungkin anda hadapi.

4. Jika masalah sudah membelenggu anda, berani terbuka terhadap seseorang yang kira-kira mampu memberi pemecahan masalah atau setidaknya mendengarkan keluh kesah anda.

5. Jika memang anda seorang beriman, berserahlah kepada Tuhan secara penuh sebab hanya Dia yang mampu menerima dan memberikan kelegaan kepada anda. Dalam Injil Matius 11:28 Marilah kepada-Ku, semua yang letih lesu dan berbeban berat, Aku akan memberi kelegaan kepadamu.

Sekarang tergantung dari anda, apakah anda mau…?

Rileks

2009-10-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

Setiap hari kita serasa dikejar-kejar pekerjaan, setiap kali kita merasa ada yang kurang, setiap kali ada saja urusan yang belum terselesaikan. Belum selesai urusan yang kemaren, hari ini sudah ada urusan lain yang harus diselesaikan. Tidak tenang, tergesa-gesa, selalu muncul kekawatiran.
Apalagi jaman dimana kita hidup sekarang ini membuatnya semakin sulit lagi. Kalau dulu, tuntutannya adalah menghasilkan yang lebih besar dan lebih banyak. Sedangkan kini, menghasilkan lebih banyak dan semakin cepat. Karena itu, hidup mesti terus berpacu dengan waktu.
Tidak heran, jenis penyakit yang mematikan di jaman ini adalah penyakit-penyakit yang diakitabkan oleh ketegangan, kepenatan dan stress yang tak tertahankan.

Pernakah anda melihat ada seekor burung yang panik karena ingin segera terbang keluar dari ruangan rumah anda. Ia berusaha keluar, berulang-ulang membenturkan tubuhnya ke jendela kaca yang tertutup. Padahal, sekiranya saja bisa lebih rileks, burung tersebut akan melihat bahwa di dekat jendela tersebut ada sebuah lubang, melalui mana ia dapat terbang dan keluar tanpa kesulitan.
Kadangkala itu pun terjadi pada anda, kita mempunyai banyak maksud baik, punya segudang kemauan berusaha, dan punya kerelaan berkorban yang hampir tanpa batas. Sayang sekali, anda sering tidak punya kemauan yang satu ini yaitu : rileks.
Itulah situasi kejiwaan yang pernah ditulis oleh kitab yang bernama Yesaya. Dalam pasal 30:15-16 dikatakan : “Dengan bertobat dan tinggal diam kamu akan diselamatkan. Dalam tinggal tenang dan percaya terletak kekuatanmu. Tetapi kamu enggan. Kamu berkata, ‘Bukan, kami mau naik kuda, dan lari cepat’. Maka kamu akan lari dan lenyap’.
Seringkali kita mau seperti itu, kita berpikir bahwa dengan bekerja keras akan menghasilkan lebih banyak. Maaf, tidak selalu bukan ?
Sebab bisa terjadi di kala kita sedang merelakan waktu sejenak untuk merenung, berpikir ulang, menata kembali, merencanakan dengan baik justru disaat itu kita akan menemukan ada hal lebih yang akan kita peroleh.
Apakah sesuatu itu ? sesuatu itu adalah sikap tenang menghadapi persoalan, atau mengerjakan tugas. Kekuatan diri untuk melanjutkan pekerjaan dan pengharapan baru yang memungkinkan anda menemukan kebaikan-kebaikan dari apa yang anda hasilkan. Tidak akan mudah capai, penat lelah ketika kita mengerjakan pekerjaan.
Hal ini tentu bukan maksud saya supaya anda bersantai ria. Tetapi sedikir rileks-lah

HOLISTIK

2009-10-19T18:56:00.001-07:00

Holistik adalah saduran kata dari bahasa Inggris yaitu “Holistic” yang menekankan pentingnya keseluruhan dan saling keterkaitan dari bagian-bagiannya.

Jika kata holistik ini dipakai dalam rangka pelayanan kepada orang lain yang membutuhkan maka mempunyai arti layanan yang diberikan kepada sesama atau manusia secara utuh, baik secara fisik, mental, sosial dan spiritual mendapat perhatian yang seimbang.

Kembali pada hakekat penciptaan, Tuhan menciptakan manusia itu tidak hanya memperhatikan fisiknya saja, atau mentalnya saja, atau sosialnya saja atau bahkan hanya spiritualnya saja. Tetapi utuh. Keutuhan ciptaan Allah kepada manusia ini yang kemudian menjadi background dikembangkanya pelayanan pastoral kepada manusia.

Maka dalam ilmu kedokteran sekarang ini, seorang dokter tidak bisa hanya memberikan kesembuhan sebatas aspek fisiknya saja, tetapi mereka sudah mulai diperlengkapi dengan pemahaman tentang kesembuhan secara total.

Lihat saja….jika kita masuk di bilik-bilik rumah sakit, kebanyakan sudah ada satu pelayanan yang dikembangkan yaitu pelayanan pastoral. Supaya perawatan yang diberikan meliputi keempat aspek yang ada dalam diri manusia. Si pasien tidak hanya sembuh secara fisik tetapi secara mental, social dan spiritualnya. Apalagi jika kita tahu bahwa latar belakang sakit yang diderita oleh seseorang bukan hanya karena penyakit fisik tetapi bisa karena beban hidup yang dialami.

Demikian pula jika kita ingin memberikan layanan kepada orang lain yang membutuhkan, kita perlu mendasarkan pelayanan kita kepada keutuhan empat aspek tersebut. Aspek fisik, mental, sosial dan spiritual.