Photo of  a portion of  a sculpture from : The African Art Center in Houston                                                            For more information contact : Sulyman Jarra 
I hesitated to put this photo in this web/blog, as there has been so much misappropriation of others sacred work in the “West.” But I trust  the intentions of  people at “The African Art Center ,” and I trust my intentions. for although “the perfect truth”, cannot always be uncovered, our intentions are possible to access. Sometimes that is the best we can do and it is no small feat.

My practice of depth psychotherapy requires my intent scrutiny about my intentions both conscious and unconscious.  This is one of the  necessary elements of this work that is invaluable to me. Almost 3 decades of being in this field  and I still must inquiry daily, muse, self reflect and sometimes inquire from other colleagues, what was my intent and was it helpful and if not how can it become so…
Mostly I come out on the “good,” end, if I was unaware or clumsy, I find my way back in enough time. Repairs can lead to deeper connection and more safety.

There is also the allure that can occur  when the work seems to  enter the sweet sublime state  for a time, when everything seems to flow back and forth.  I try not get mesmerized by the ease for  this as a momentary sweetness, and if I  freeze it in time I can sacrifice genuine contact and not realize it.

Then there are those much less frequent situations, in which I have failed someone, not been adequate no matter how much I tried, missed them somehow irretrievably. This is the hardest, but maybe the most demanding of all.  At those rare times when I have had hard regrets, I  ask myself , “Do I help heal more then I help hurt?”  As long as the balance is strongly weighted on the help heal side, I  will continue. This could require that I fight my way back to trusting myself , or maybe I love my way back, or both.

I rededicate.  I still am astonished by how smart and how stupid  we humans are… and I am one of them, doing what I do best.   And to this day what happens in this intimate interactive engagement called psychotherapy, reinforces my reverence for us humans , and restores my hope that our humanity can prevail.