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I am a pastor and a clinical psychotherapist. My life's passion is defining healthiness from a human perspective and paralleling it to the holiness of God, divine perspective. Shifting perspectives creates a paradigm that is alongside of rather than over and against. The parakalein of God and the paradoxes of humanity are redefined. Humanity is all about winning and yet we are losing ground everywhere. Divinity is all about letting go of the desire to win and the fear of loss. The Divine embraces the world with loving care regardless of anything.

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Stand Up

Posted by Don Paine

I sat with a client yesterday who was having trouble standing up.  Fear gripped him as he was afraid that if he stood up and said a challenging thing that all "hell would break loose".  Alternatively by not speaking up he was in hell.  He wanted me to help him stand up.  He wanted me to help him to understand what needs to happen to stand up.  Obviously among other things this is a passive/aggressive issue.

I had heard this dilemma before in many people.   An image came to me that I had never thought of before. I went with it and asked him if he was going to be hit by a bus would he want to be facing the bus as it ran him over or would he want to have the bus hit him from behind.

He thought for a few minutes and he said, I think I would want to be facing the bus.  I encouraged him to find an analogy similar to that that would have him face the oncoming death rather than letting the death slowly over take him form the  rear.

I do not know if this will help him to stand up.  It is ultimately his decision and he has parts that want to and they are courageous and parts that fear and they are helpless.

I reflected that the past 18 months I was waiting for death to overtake me in my depression and one of the things that changed in me was I decided to take death on head on.  I faced my mortality and became alive.

The image was for me.  I hope it was for him as well.

Face whatever is facing you with confidence that in you is the strength to persevere and preserve life

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