The Shift - A moment in which you feel different

“Quantum Moment” or “Peak Experience” This phenomenon has been described as “a moment in which you feel different, moved emotionally… responding to what would otherwise be an ordinary situation, but you respond instead in an extraordinary way… increasing your ability to perceive and process information vital to you and your purpose in being here.” – (W. R. Miller & J. C’DeBaca, Anatomy of a Quantum Change. Spirituality & Health, February, 2005) 

Reports from many say a shift occurs within them preceding a quantum moment or peak experience. A quantum moment or peak experience as explained by Abraham Maslow has 4 characteristics.

1. It’s very vivid
2. It’s a surprise
3. It’s benevolent (They always feel good)
4. It’s enduring (It doesn’t come and go….it lasts with you forever)

Most people who speak about profound shifts and breakthroughs, the moment when their lives changed came not out of “doing”, but actually surrendering and allowing. It is an intangible moment of being open and flexible to the Spirit. Some people call it “letting go and letting God”.

Surrendering to the Spirit opens us up to a shift into the true nature of ourselves and this shift occurs differently for men and women. There was a recent study called “The Moment That Turns Your Values Upside Down”.

A group of men and women were studied and surveyed about their life values, both before and after experiencing a Peak Experience or Quantum Moment. The entire group was followed over a lifetime and the findings show collectively:

The Top 5 Values for Women Before:

1. Family  (Taking care of everyone else)
2. Sense of Independence
3. Career
4. Fitting In
5. Attractiveness

It’s not surprising that the findings show that women suffer from an internal conflict between self-identity and societal roles for women. However, the findings change quite dramatically as women experience Quantum Moments or Peak Experiences:

The Top 5 Values for Women After:

1. Personal Growth
2. Self-Esteem
3. Spirituality
4. Happiness
5. Forgiveness

One could conclude that the women shifted into an innate knowing of their value and worthiness as being something that is internal and eternal, rather than external and fleeting. 

The Top 5 Values for Men Before: 

1. Wealth
2. Sense of Adventure
3. Achievement
4. Idea of Pleasure
5. To be Respected

Of course men are brought up to be the provider, to be the man so it’s not surprising to see their top 5 values list. However, take a look at the difference a shift makes:

The Top 5 Values for Men After:

1. Spirituality
2. Personal Peace
3. Family
4. God’s Will (Sense of Purpose)
5. Honesty

As we move from ambition to meaning that does not mean that we lose ambition. Quite the contrary, we now have ambition with meaning, ambition is transformed into purpose.  We also start to detach from the outcome, which allows us to remove resistance. We then realize that rather than making things happen, we are allowing them to come naturally.

Dr. Wayne Dyer says if we want to see the doors open in our lives, we detach from what the ego says and allow ourselves to live from the Spirit. Lao Tzu spoke about 4 Virtues that he encourages us to live by:

The 4 Virtues:

1. Reverence for all life (Respect)
2. Sincerity (Honesty)
3. Gentleness (Kindness)
4. Supportiveness (Service to others)

When we shift from ambition to meaning, we also come to realize that this is not a race, we don’t have to run. In fact, we might even slow it down and take a look around rather than chasing everyone.

http://codulvietii.wordpress.com/2012/04/18/life-a-moment-in-which-you-feel-different/#more-266

The Rules for Being Human

Handed down from Ancient Sanskrit

1. YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY. 

You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period. 

2. YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS. 

You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life." 

3. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, ONLY LESSONS. 

Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work." 

4. LESSONS ARE REPEATED UNTIL THEY ARE LEARNED. 

A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson. 

5. LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT END.

There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned. 

6. "THERE" IS NO BETTER A PLACE THAN "HERE." 

When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here." 

7. OTHER PEOPLE ARE MERELY MIRRORS OF YOU. 

You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself. 

8. WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE IS UP TO YOU.

You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours. 

9. YOUR ANSWERS LIE WITHIN YOU. 

The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust. 

10. YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS.

http://www.lifelovedying.org/inspiration_2698919.html

Injustice in the world

Q: How to deal with so much injustice in the world?

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you only think about all the injustice, you will keep boiling. When you keep boiling, you cannot think clearly. When you cannot think clearly, your action will also not be right. And at another level, your action will also contribute to the injustice.

When you see injustice, there are three things to do:
• Take it piece by piece, bit by bit
• Know that there are good people in the world in every field. This world has a hundred good people, and only five bad people. If the world is bad today, it is not because of the five bad elements, it is because of the hundred good people who are sleeping. So wake them up
• Know that there is a universal power that loves you. This power or law will always take care; have that faith.You are not going to protect this planet forever. You are here only for 80-100 years. You have no control over what will happen after 200 years. Nor did you have any control over the 19 billion years that the planet has existed. Know that you don’t have control. All that you can do is pray and wish that the best happens.

Do you know our scientists say that the whole solar system is moving in between many black holes? It is just escaping the black holes. At any time the black hole can just suck the solar system, and everything will be finished.
Not just the Earth, the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, everything will be gone, it will disappear into nothing. So when you get so worried, or get so angry about injustice, go to a planetarium and watch! That is the last option!
Before that, wake up people. Create awareness in people, create activism.

http://qnawithsrisri.artoflivinguniverse.org/2014/07/qna-with-sri-sri.html

25 Life Changing Lessons from Buddha

1. LOVE HEALS ALL THINGS.

“Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.”

2. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU SAY BUT WHAT YOU DO THAT DEFINES YOU.

“A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.”

“A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker.”

3. THE SECRET OF GOOD HEALTH IS TO LIVE FULLY IN THE NOW.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”

4. WHO LOOKS INSIDE AWAKENS.

“The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.”

5. WORDS HAVE THE POWER TO BOTH HURT AND HEAL.

“Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.”

6. LET IT GO AND IT WILL BE YOURS FOREVER.

“You only lose what you cling to.”

7. NO ONE CAN WALK YOUR PATH FOR YOU.

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”

8. HAPPINESS NEVER DECREASES BY BEING SHARED.

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

9. BE KIND TO ALL.

“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.”

“Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.”

“Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.”

10. DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU ARE TOLD TO BELIEVE.

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

11. AS YOU THINK SO SHALL YOU BE

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon…. If a man speak or act with a good thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.”

12. LET GO OF FEAR.

“The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.”

Read: Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment

13. THE TRUTH HAS A WAY OF ALWAYS LEAKING OUT.

“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

14. CONTROL YOUR MIND OR IT WILL CONTROL YOU.

“To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.”

“It is a man’s own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.”

15. DOUBT SEPARATES. TRUST UNITES.

“There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.”

16. NOBODY IS MORE DESERVING OF YOUR LOVE THAN YOU YOURSELF ARE.

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”

17. KNOWING OTHERS IS WISDOM, KNOWING YOURSELF IS ENLIGHTENMENT.

“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”

18. SPIRITUALITY ISN’T A LUXURY, IT’S A NECESSITY.

“Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.”

19. REPLACE JEALOUSY WITH ADMIRATION.

“Do not be jealous of others’ good qualities, but out of admiration adopt them yourself.”

20. LOOK FOR PEACE WITHIN YOURSELF.

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

21. LET GO OF ATTACHMENT.

“To live a pure unselfish life, one must count nothing as one’s own in the midst of abundance.”

22. CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS WISELY.

“An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.”

23. THERE IS NO WAY TO HAPPINESS. HAPPINESS IS THE WAY.

“There is no path to happiness: happiness is the path.”

24. GIVE UP LABELS.

“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.”

25. LOVE. LIVE. LET GO.

“In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? How fully did you live? How deeply did you let go?”

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/06/25-life-changing-lessons-learn-buddha.html

Byron Katie's Four Questions

All the suffering that goes on inside our minds is not reality, says Byron Katie. It's just a story we torture ourselves with. She has a simple, completely replicable system for freeing ourselves of the thoughts that make us suffer. "All war begins on paper," she explains. You write down your stressful thoughts, and then ask yourself the following four questions:

Question 1: Is it true?
This question can change your life. Be still and ask yourself if the thought you wrote down is true.

Question 2: Can you absolutely know it's true?
This is another opportunity to open your mind and to go deeper into the unknown, to find the answers that live beneath what we think we know.

Question 3: How do you react—what happens—when you believe that thought?
With this question, you begin to notice internal cause and effect. You can see that when you believe the thought, there is a disturbance that can range from mild discomfort to fear or panic. What do you feel? How do you treat the person (or the situation) you've written about, how do you treat yourself, when you believe that thought? Make a list, and be specific.

Question 4: Who would you be without the thought?
Imagine yourself in the presence of that person (or in that situation), without believing the thought. How would your life be different if you didn't have the ability to even think the stressful thought? How would you feel? Which do you prefer—life with or without the thought? Which feels kinder, more peaceful?

Turn the thought around:
The "turnaround" gives you an opportunity to experience the opposite of what you believe. Once you have found one or more turnarounds to your original statement, you are invited to find at least three specific, genuine examples of how each turnaround is true in your life.

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Byron-Katies-Four-Questions

The Twelve Gifts of Birth

Some day, all the children of the world will learn the truth about their noble inheritance. When that happens a miracle will unfold on the kingdom of Earth.

Some day is near.

Here is the secret they want you to know.

At the wondrous moment you were born, as you took your first breath, a great celebration was held in the heavens and twelve magnificent gifts were granted to you.

The first gift is STRENGTH. May you remember to call upon it whenever you need it.

The second gift is BEAUTY. May your deeds reflect its depth.

The third gift is COURAGE. May you speak and act with confidence and use courage to follow your own path.

The fourth gift is COMPASSION. May you be gentle with yourself and others. May you forgive those who hurt you and yourself when you make mistakes.

The fifth gift is HOPE. Through each passage and season, may you trust the goodness of life.

The sixth gift is JOY. May it keep your heart open and filled with light.

The seventh gift is TALENT. May you discover your own special abilities and contribute them toward a better world.

The eighth gift is IMAGINATION. May it nourish your visions and dreams.

The ninth gift is REVERENCE. May you appreciate the wonder that you are and the miracle of all creation.

The tenth gift is WISDOM. Guiding your way, wisdom will lead you through knowledge to understanding. May you hear its soft voice.

The eleventh gift is LOVE. It will grow each time you give it away.

The twelfth gift is FAITH. May you believe.

Now you know about your twelve gifts of birth. Use your gifts well and you will discover  others, among them a gift that is uniquely you. See these noble gifts in other people. Share the truth and be ready for the miracle to unfold.

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/library/twelvegifts.html

Two Days We Should Not Worry

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. 

One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares,
its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. 

Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control.
All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. 

We cannot undo a single act we performed;
we cannot erase a single word we said.
Yesterday is gone forever. 

The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow
with all its possible adversities, its burdens,
its large promise and its poor performance;
Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. 

Tomorrow's sun will rise, 
either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise.
Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow,
for it is yet to be born. 

This leaves only one day, Today.
Any person can fight the battle of just one day.
It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we break down. 

It is not the experience of Today that drives a person mad,
it is the remorse or bitterness of something which happened Yesterday and the dread of what Tomorrow may bring. 

Let us, therefore, Live but one day at a time.

http://www.inspirationpeak.com/cgi-bin/stories.cgi?record=79

Love Plus Meditation

Love is another name for life, another name for existence, another name for god. Don't condemn it, even if it exists on the lowest rung, because through condemnation you will not be able to transform it. Accept it as it is. Try to understand it. In that very understanding love starts changing: it starts going higher than lust. The more understanding grows, the higher love starts soaring. Love moves higher on the wings of understanding, on the wings of awareness, meditation.

Love plus meditation is equal to sannyas. Just make your love more and more meditative, wherever it is, and meditation will take it upwards. Meditation alone is without energy; love alone is without consciousness. They both need a co-operation, a deep co-operation.
-Osho

http://www.antraeus.co.uk/nownow2.htm

Gestalt Therapy in Psychological Practice

Gestalt therapy is an empowering and germane framework for psychotherapy. It is uplifting for both practitioners and patients. Its objective is to bring about new awareness so that transition and problem-solving is possible. Clients are immediately equipped and responsible for doing real work, inspired and motivated to reach their own solutions. This approach entails moving in creativity from talk to action and experience (Corey, 2009). The theory looks to growth and enhancement as therapy, and reflects an early Gestalt motto: “You don’t have to be sick to get better” (Corey, 2009, p. 225). Because of its many demonstrated benefits, Gestalt therapy should be utilized by more practicing psychologists. It is a science that continues to advance the field of psychology.

Gestalt therapy is “not so much to change [a] sense of being [one]self as to exercise it” (p. 21). A key tenet of Gestalt theory is “increased and enriched awareness,” which “by itself is seen as curative” (Corey, 2009, p. 206). The central idea is that individuals are already striving to improve and “self-actualize,” and that if they are more aware of themselves, they can continue to grow and change.

Gestaltists approach patients as whole products that are the result of various interacting systems, some evident and some not. For example, practitioners could consider aspects like temperament, personality, family history, beliefs, education, and cognitive processes of a particular patient and how those systems influence the whole that is seen.

What is Gestalt Psychology?

The concept of gestalt should be described since it is the basis of this framework. First, the word is pronounced “GESH- tawlt.” It is a German word meaning “form” or “shape” (keithyates.com, 2001). Simply put, gestalt is the idea that a whole is comprised of parts, and all those parts are necessary to achieve the whole. In addition, the effect of the whole form cannot be achieved by simply describing the individual parts it holds (keithyates.com, 2001).

The client’s life is regarded as an entire field, and events and relationships are parts of the field that are related to and responsive to each other. The field consists of a foreground and background, and the elements in those parts indicate their importance or noteworthiness in the client’s life.

Gestalt therapy aims to help patients gain awareness of certain behaviors in order to change them and their outlook on life, whereas behaviorism focuses on observable behavior and changing that alone (Corey, 2009).

The Now

The Gestalt approach holds that dwelling on the past and fantasizing about the future can be ways to avoid the present, and that there is power in facing the present (Corey, 2009). In order to help the patient become more aware of the present moment, Gestalt therapists ask “what” and “how” questions (Corey, 2009). For example, these questions are typical of a Gestalt therapy session: “What are you doing with your feet now?” or “Are you aware of your smile?” (Dolliver, 1991).

Existentialism

Existential therapy is applied to help people resolve dilemmas of contemporary life, to confront common feelings such as isolation, meaninglessness, confusion, uncertainty, or embarrassment (Corey, 2009).

Existential practice attempts to reconcile the limits and tragic elements of human existence with the possibilities and opportunities of human life (Corey, 2009). Gestalt therapy, because it is existential in nature, is based on an understanding of what it means to be human (Corey, 2009).

Humans, are seen as self-aware beings, able to make choices. Patients have freedom, but they are also assigned responsibility for actions and thoughts. They are challenged to take responsibility for how they choose to be now in the current moment (Corey, 2009). Exploration of the subject’s specific reality is valued, while diagnosis and prognosis are mostly ignored (Corey, 2009).

Phenomenological Inquiry

In psychology, a “phenomenological” or “experiential” approach refers to the patient’s experience—how he or she experiences things. Phenomenology is a discipline that helps patients stand aside from their usual way of thinking so that they can distinguish the difference between what is actually perceived and felt in the current situation and what is due to past events (Yontef, 1993). Therapy that is both existential and phenomenological focuses on people's existence—relations with others, joys and suffering, and so on—as they are directly experienced.

In fact, Gestalt therapy treats feelings in the present and what is observed as palpable and pertinent data (Yontef, 1993). Therapists may ask questions like, “Is my experience the same as yours?” in order to get patients to question their perceptions. Description is valued.

Phenomenological inquiry is a method that focuses on what occurs in “the now” or the present moment (Corey, 2009). To help the client gain self-awareness, Gestalt therapists ask questions like “What is happening now?” or “What are you experiencing as you sit there and talk to me?” or “How are you experiencing your anxiety?” (Corey, 2009, p. 202). If the discussion is about a dream the patient had, the therapist might suggest, “Tell me the dream as though you were having it now” (Corey, 2009, p. 203).

Practitioner-Client Relationship

Therapists have unique responsibilities when it comes to application of Gestalt psychology. Because of its existential nature, the relationship is equal and person-to-person (Corey, 2009). The therapist’s presence is very important for this therapy, as opposed to having a set of technical skills to be used in sessions. Laura Perls noted that the ideas of person and presence are more important than using techniques, and argued the client and therapist invent and create their relationship (Corey, 2009). The therapist is responsible for facilitating the client’s personal process of self-discovery (Corey, 2009).

The client-therapist relationship, according to Corey (2009), must be established before therapy commences, so that the client trusts the therapist. Trust is of paramount importance. Then, Corey (2009) notes, the client is likely to be able to achieve higher levels of awareness.

Corey (2009) suggests that therapists are charged with maintaining a therapeutic atmosphere, one that encourages mental work on the client’s part (210). Therapists also need to be willing to express their reactions and observations as they occur, much like the patient is expected to do. They provide helpful feedback. They are willing to explore existential episodes like fears and expectations with their clients (Corey, 2009). Therapists are also viewed as artistic participants in the creative process (Corey, 2009).

Confrontation is a part of the client-therapist relationship in the Gestalt framework. Yontef advocates for an “empathic inquiry” focused on awareness when this method is used (Corey, 2009, p. 215). Though the term sounds intimidating, confrontation is not an attack. It can be an invitation for clients to examine their behaviors, attitudes, and thoughts, and to notice incongruities between their verbal and nonverbal expressions (Corey, 2009). Using this technique can be a chance for patients to learn more about themselves. Using it during therapy might be as simple as making an observation, or saying something like, “You say [this], but your face is telling me that you really feel [this].”

Creativity

Joseph Zinker (1977), a noted Gestalt therapist and author of Creative Process in Gestalt Therapy, emphasized creative undertakings like writing, drawing, painting, etc. as therapy. He urged therapists to “treat the whole” of life, to foster the creative process, noting that “each creation is the expressed, behavioral outcome of a multitude of images, fantasies, musings, and thoughts” (Zinker, 1977, p. 4). Themes that come up during these expressions are to be experienced in the here and now. The creative process, according to Zinker (1977), is a chance for growth. It is a problem-solving process. Art and creativity are opportunities to develop novel concepts out of one’s own sense of daring (Zinker, 1977).

Unfinished Business

When figures emerge from the background but are not completed or resolved, Gestalt therapists suspect that a person is left with unfinished business. This is essentially unacknowledged or unvoiced feelings. They can manifest as grief, anxiety, guilt, anger, abandonment, and a host of other emotions. Because the client is not fully acknowledging what he or she experienced, the unfinished business lingers in the background and prevents the client from being fully self-aware. Gestaltists maintain that many times, when a person has unfinished business, unexpressed feelings result in some physical manifestation— nervous ticks or fidgeting, for instance (Corey, 2009).

It is the therapist’s task to guide the client through this unfinished business in the here and now. Without frustrating or rescuing the patient, the therapist can present situations that evoke similar emotions, and then guide the person through them.

Dialogue

The Gestalt therapist works by engaging in dialogue; contact with the client is straightforward but caring, warm, and accepting (Yontef, 1993). Authenticity and candor between both parties is crucial. Dialogue is lived: it is something “done rather than talked about” (Yontef, 1993, p. 4).

Awareness, New Patterns, and Making Changes

In Gestalt therapy, the patient learns the difference between “well-worn obsessional pathways and new thoughts, between a statement of experience and a statement of a statement” (Yontef, 1993, p.6). Gestalt therapy, Yontef (1993) says, uses active techniques that clarify experience, and responsibility for the present is assigned to the patient. When new patterns of thinking are introduced and practiced, healthy changes are possible.

The Empty Chair

One exercise used in Gestalt therapy involves the client’s use of two chairs in role playing. The therapist asks the client to sit in one chair and play one “part” of his or her problem, and then switch to the other chair to play the role of the “other” in order to further understand the struggle. With the empty chair method, clients may locate a feeling or a side of themselves they had previously been denying; Corey (2009) notes that, rather than just talking about a conflicted feeling, clients are able to intensify the feeling and experience it wholly. The goal of this technique is acceptance of polarities and acknowledgment of conflicts that exist in everyone (Corey, 2009).

Attention to Body Language

Body language is thought to be a subtle indicator of intense emotions. Corey (2009) says, “movements, postures, and gestures may communicate significant meanings” (p. 218). When body language is noticed in sessions, many times the therapist asks the client to exaggerate a movement or tick. This is believed to intensify the feeling attached to the behavior, bring elucidation as to the inner meaning (Corey, 2009). For instance, clenched fists, tight frowning, grimacing, crossed arms, or shaking hands may be highlighted in therapy. A therapist might ask, “What is this gesture saying? What are you saying with this movement? What is your expression saying right now?”

Dream Work

The purpose of addressing dreams in Gestalt therapy is to bring dreams back to life and live them in the here and now. Each part is presumed to be a projection of the self; the patient invents scripts for encounters between characters or parts (Corey, 2009). Since clients can act out a conflict between opposing sides, eventually they can accept their inner differences (Corey, 2009). Gestaltists believe that dreams are spontaneous expressions of the self, that they represent unfinished situations and contain existential messages about personal struggles (Corey, 2009).

Goals for Gestalt Therapists

Although it is not focused on predetermined goals for patients, Gestalt therapists definitely attend to a basic goal—that of assisting clients in achieving greater awareness. As noted previously, increased awareness in itself is highly beneficial.

Patients have the ability to monitor and regulate behavior when they have full awareness of what is happening in and around them. With higher awareness comes the presentation of new and varied choices, as well as responsibility for actions and possible consequences (Corey, 2009). Over the course of therapy, patients gradually assume ownership of their own experiences. They are to develop skills that will help them change within their fields, and try new patterns of being and behaving (Corey, 2009).

Studies Utilizing Gestalt Therapy

Recent studies have advanced the theory and practice of Gestalt therapy: it has a beneficial impact with those who exhibit personality disorders, psychosomatic problems, and substance addictions (Corey, 2009). Outcome studies have proven that Gestalt therapy is equal to or better than other therapies in treating various psychological disorders (Corey, 2009).

Greenberg & Clarke (1986) found empty-chair dialogues to be helpful in reducing intrapersonal conflicts and in making decisions (Greenberg & Webster, 1982). Subjects within the high-affect Gestalt dialogues were very likely to confirm that Gestalt treatment was helpful for them when also participating in comparative procedures (Tyson & Range, 1987).

http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/595/2/gestalt-therapy-in-psychological-practice

Technique:Breathing Technique - Healing Emotions