A Counselor's Perspective on How to Make the Spiritual Life Useful | Christian Gonzalez

Christian Gonzalez and Rhys Pasimio bring together clinical expertise, a shared love of Internal Family Systems, and the traditions of the Orthodox Church into one conversation about how to cultivate a healthy inner life. Our center is on the person of Jesus Christ, but we talk about the difference between an intellectual understanding that may or may not make sense, and a tangible daily lived experience.  Orthodoxy offers a “Beautiful healing way to live, versus just a right way of thinking. When we consider Orthodox spiritual practice, combined with the best of reflection skills from the psychotherapy world, we discover a way to experience healing, transformation, and the goodness of God here and now, in the body! We again compare and contrast the language of “Parts” language Internal Family Systems and how Orthodoxy talks about the Passions. We reflect on our own experiences of learning to be gentle with, even praying for our wounded parts, and in this way finding more freedom than by endlessly criticizing ourselves. Overall, we emphasize that Christianity is a way of life, one that is practiced daily. As counselors, we have access to even more tools to help us sustain the life giving practices. And all of this becomes possible in compassionate relationships with each other, and with a clear focus on Christ. In discussing Lenten practices, we examine how asceticism factors into a spiritual practice, and caution against “The fourth taco.”  The Outer Circle Inner Stillness is made possible by support from listeners, patrons, likes, and shares. To learn more about how to support the podcast, visit www.patreon.com/outercircle.  Rhys Pasimio can be found through www.patreon.com/outercircle and on instagram at @newpattrencounseling and through New Pattern Counseling at www.newpatterncounseling.com, and is always happy to dialogue with listeners bringing honest questions! Christian Gonzalez can be found at [email protected], or with the Orthodox Youth and Young Adult Ministries on social media and at www.theoym.org . #lent #greatlent #orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #easternorthodoxy #christianity #monasticism #sobriety #spirituality #spiritualdisciplines #spiritualstruggle #Addiction #reflection #meditation #family #marriage #parenting #counseling #psychology #internalfamilysystems #ifs #parts #allpartswelcome #nobadparts #mentalhealth #therapy #newpatterncounseling #oym #orthodoxyouthandyoungadultministries #christiangonzalez #rhyspasimio