Integrating Two Models for the Treatment of Addictions: Souldrama and 12-Step Recovery in Action
CONNIE MILLER
International Instituteof Souldrama, Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey, USA
Building off previous theoretical research studies conducted on ad- dictions, relapse cycles, and theories regarding group action meth- ods and psychodrama in general, this article proposes to introduce a new action method technique into the 12-step program guide- lines that were originally set up for recovery from alcoholism. This new technique will help individuals to reestablish their creative na- ture, connect them with others on a spiritual level, and through their higher awareness, help them to heal on a much deeper level, as well as to help them discover their greater purpose in life. The new method of Souldrama combines elements of the rational, emo- tional, and the spiritual mind, and also uses creativity, spontane- ity, and imagination, so that the ego and the soul become aligned. Souldrama assists in helping relapses from occurring by putting spirituality into action and then linking together its seven doors of transformation with the guidelines of the 12 steps, which in- dividuals will need to walk through to grow both personally and spiritually. By doing this, individuals will hopefully be able to pre- vent the relapse cycle from continuing, and thereby, remaining in their recovery.
To cite this article: Connie Miller (2013): Integrating Two Models for the Treatment of Addictions: Souldrama and 12-Step Recovery in Action, Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 8:2, 81-111
Miller, C. (2019) Souldrama: The Need to Develop our Spiritual Intelligence. 287-298. Action Explorations. Using Psychodramatic Methods in Non - Therapeutic Settings. Blatner, A. Parallax Productions, Seattle, Washington.
Miller, C. (May, 2017) Starve the Ego; Feed the Soul Published in Portuguese.
Nao Alimente O Ego, Alimente A Alma. Mahatma. Lisbon, Portugal.
Miller, C. (Fall, 2013). Eurotas Positive Spirituality: Souldrama®: A New Model for Putting the Twelve Steps into Action, Fall 2013. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.
Miller, C. (September 2013). Starve the Ego: Feed the Soul published in Romanian.Infometeaza Egoul, Hraneste Sufletul! Editura Herald, Bucharest, Romania.
Miller, C. (Spring, 2013). Who’s Calling? Cell phone sociometry in action. Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy Vo 61, no. 1, 73-75.
Miller, C. (2013 January) Vistas Putting the Twelve Steps into Action. Vistas online. www.counseling.org. Retrieved from the Vistas Online Library.
Miller, C. (2013) Integrating Two Models for the Treatment of Addictions: Souldrama® and Twelve Step Recovery in Action. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 8:81-111.
Miller, C. (2012) A New Model for Putting the Twelve Steps into Action: Souldrama. Summer Vol.16, No4. Proctor Hospital Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery.
Miller, C: (2010) Starve the Ego: Feed the Soul: Souldrama: Ignite you spiritual intelligence. Self Published. Lulu.com.
Miller, C. (2009) From Fearship to Friendship. Live Positive Magazine. April., India
Miller, C. (2008) Souldrama” Putting Spirituality into Action. Haworth Press; Journal for Creativity in Mental Health. 139-156. Vol.3, Number 1.
Miller, C. (2007). Souldrama®: A therapeutic action model to create spiritually intelligent leadership. The Korean Association for Psychodrama & Sociodrama, 10(1), 45-80.
Miller, C. (2007). Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice. In Baim, C., Burmeister, J., Maciel, M. (Eds.), Advancing Theory in Therapy: Psychodrama, Spirituality, and Souldrama (pp.189-200). London: Routledge Press.
Miller, C. (2007) Souldrama: A terapia da alma. Sao Paulo,Brazil: Editora Agora. Published in Brazil. ISBN 857183030 - 1
Miller,C. 2007). Souldrama®: A Therapeutic Action Model to Create Spiritually Intelligent Leadership. Retrieved from Vistas online library, January 28, 2007, from www.counseling.org.
Miller, C. (2006). Souldrama: A journey into the heart of God (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Miller.Self-Published Lulu.com ISBN-13: 978-1411696525
Miller, C. (2000). The technique of Souldrama and its applications. The International Journal of Action Methods, 52, (4), 173-186.
New Book
Today, we seem to search for meaning and purpose in our lives and begin a spiritual journey as we ask ourselves,"Is this all there is?"
What keeps people stuck in relationships, careers, addictions? Souldrama helps us to move past the resistance in our lives preventing us from accessing our higher purpose. Souldrama ...
The Haworth Press New article The Journal for Creativity in Mental Health
The Korean Journal of Psychodrama: June 2007 has published
Souldrama®: The The Korean Association for Psychodrama & Sociodrama; Volume 10 Number Onepp 45-80. A Therapeutic Action Model to Create Spiritually Intelligent Leadership
Connie Miller MS,TEP Intuition “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift”. Einstein
Abstract
Spirituality is an energy that defines the way we see the world.When we access that energy it empowers us with the courage to resolve problems and the self- faith to moveforward. We can use this energy to move past resistance and create spiritually intelligent leadership.To support clients in identifying their vision and moving forward in achieving their life’s purpose, we need new, creative therapeutic tools to access our spiritual intelligence. SouldramaÒ(Miller, 2000,2007, 2006)) is a psychospiritual developmental model that leads one through six stages of spiritual development aligning the ego and soul.It enables one to recognize and move on to their higher purpose, therefore creating more spiritually intelligent leadership. It is intended to be used as multi disciplinary training system that combines mind, body and spirit to create a therapeutic energy within a group process, Souldrama allows the soul to become a co-creator in a person’s life. This is the soul’s missionto co:create.This article proposes a combination and integration of the theoretical frameworks of methods of Miller’s, Zohar’s, Moreno’sandJung's models as a source of insight and introduction to a much needednew model forthe process of individual spiritual growth.This new model of Souldrama can assist in providing an environment that releases the unique creativity, imagination, and growth of individuals as they follow their spiritual paths to wholeness and provide a foundation for integrating the discovery of self with work deemed to be meaningful and full of purpose. More than ever, individuals find themselves experiencing a lack of meaning in their lives and an attendant sense of spiritual desolation (Vaill, 1989).Consequently, many people are increasingly embarking upon a spiritual journey, seeking to discover their true selves, searching for a higher purpose and meaning to their lives (Conger, 1994).
IQ+EQ+SQ
New Book From Routledge
Psychodrama: Advances & Practice
PSYCHODRAMA Advances in Theory and Practice Edited by CLARK BAIM, JORGE BURMEISTER, MANUELA MACIEL Foreword by Zerka Moreno and Grete Leutz This international psychodrama book provides a comprehensive overview of developments in the theory and practice of psychodrama, integrating different psychodramatic schools of thought. Psychodrama is one of the pioneering approaches of psychotherapy and is practised by thousands of practitioners and in most countries of the world. The editors of this volume bring together contributions from eight European countries, South America, Australia, Israel and the USA to explain and explore recent innovations. They look at how psychodrama has contributed to the development of psychotherapy, introducing concepts that have had a profound influence on other therapies. These include concepts such as role theory, the encounter, co-consciousness and the co-unconscious,the social atom, sociometry, action research, group psychotherapy, the cycle of spontaneity and creativity, role play, the significance of the moment in the here-and-now and many related concepts and techniques. This book will be of great interest to all students, practitioners and trainers in the field of psychodrama. It will also appeal to professionals and students in the related fields of psychotherapy, counseling, psychology and psychiatry.Clark Baim is a psychodrama trainer based in the UK and is Co-Director of the Birmingham Institute for Psychodrama. He has written and co-edited a number of books, journal articles and chapters. He was the founding director of Geese Theatre UK, a company focusing on rehabilitative drama with offenders. Jorge Burmeister became the President Elect of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy in 2006. He is a founding member of the Federation of European Psychodrama Training Organizations (FEPTO) and has worked as a psychodrama trainer and supervisor in several European countries. Manuela Maciel is currently chairperson of the International Psychodrama Section of the IAGP (International Association of Group Psychotherapy). She has been a Psychodrama Practitioner for 20 years and is a psychodrama trainer and supervisor in her native Portugal.Contents: Tudor, Preface. Leutz, Foreword. Moreno, Foreword. Baim, Burmeister, Maciel,Introduction. Part I: New Perspectives on Psychodramatic Theory. Introduction. Blatner, Meta-Theoretical Perspectives on Psychodrama. Schacht, Spontaneity/Creativity: The Psychodramatic Concept of Change. Kipper, Reformulating Psychodrama as an Experiential Reintegration Action Therapy (ERAT): The Corrective Emotional Approach. Blatner, The Role of the Meta-role: An Integrative Element in Psychology. Daniel, Psychodrama, Role Theory and the Cultural Atom: New Developments in Role Theory.Kellermann, Let's Face it: Mirroring in Psychodrama. Remer, Guerrero, Riding-Malon, A Chaos Theory Perspective on Psychodrama: Reinterpreting Moreno. Verhofstadt,Existential-Dialectic Psychodrama. Pio-Abreu, Villares-Oliveira, How Does Psychodrama Work?: How Theory is Embedded in the Psychodramatic Method. Oudijk, A PostmodernApproach to Psychodrama Theory. Part II: Developments in Psychodrama Practiceand Research. Introduction. Schützenberger, Transgenerational Analysis and Psychodrama: Applying and Extending Moreno's Concepts of the Co-unconscious and theSocial Atom to Transgenerational Links. Hudgins, Clinical Foundations of the Therapeutic Spiral Model: Theoretical Orientations and Principles of Change. Miller, Psychodrama, Spirituality and Souldrama. Casson, Psychodrama in Miniature. Knobel, Sociometric Scenarios and Psychotherapy. Hug, A Neuroscience Perspective on Psychodrama.Bannister, Psychodrama and Child Development: Working with Children. Vieira, Risques,Psychodrama and Psychopathology: Purposefully Adapting the Method to Address Different Pathologies. Gasseau, Scategni, Jungian Psychodrama: From Theoretical to Creative Roots. Wieser, Studies on Treatment Effects of Psychodrama Therapy Ordered on the Basis of ICD-10. Blatner, Cukier, Appendix: Moreno's Basic Concepts. 0-415-41913-1 / 978-0-415-419131-0 June 2007 344pp. £55.00 / $100.00 hbk 0-415-41914-X / 978-0-415-41914-7 June 2007 344pp. £19.99 / $35.95 pbk Advancing Theory in Therapy Series -Series Editor: Keith TudorPublished by Routledge
Interview in Brazil Gazetta Journal Aug 7, 2007
The journalist Khadine Novaczyk, from Gazeta journal, Sao Paulo, Brazil New Advances in Therapy Souldrama®: A Therapeutic Action Model to Create Spiritually Intelligent Leadership Intuition “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift”. Einstein In your opinion, nowadays, are people separate from spirituality? Could this be the reason of the psychological diseases that are appearing in our time? More than ever today, individuals find themselves experiencing a lack of meaning and purpose in their lives and an attendant sense of spiritual desolation. Consequently, many people are increasingly embarking upon a spiritual journey, seeking to discover their true selves, searching for well-being: for meaning, purpose, fulfillment, health and happiness.For life to be good, we need to feel useful and appreciated, and also we need to be seen, heard and to belong.We long for great relationships—to love and to be loved.Today we look for the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it and search again for the meaning of life.We must look for ways to recreate ourselves and to create spiritually intelligent leadership.Our creativity holds the key to our life dream, purpose, or calling.However, we place many obstacles between our creative gifts and ourselves.Creativity is the ability to manifest what has real meaning and purpose for us, our soul’s mission.
What is a spiritual journey?Here in my workshops,a spiritual journey is defined as a process where individuals focus within themselves to gain self-awareness. It is the my premise that only through this awareness can individuals become truly self actualized and find meaning and purpose in their work and in their lives.Further, this process can facilitate both an interconnection with self and a connection with others, fostering a sense of order and balance in an otherwise chaotic life. We all want to make a difference, to know our life has been worthwhile.But we cannot make a lasting difference at home and in the world unless we do so from a higher level of consciousness other than that of the ego or personality. This higher level is soul life, our essence.
Why do some people feel kind of existentially empty inside?
A lack of spirituality reflects itself when one feels separate from others.The ego, developed in early childhood can obstruct or distort one relationship with the divine.It can manifest a far richer consciousness in everyday life if brought into alignment with the soul.
So what is soul? And how do we live a soulful life? Behind all of these human desires is the creative impulse of soul. It moves through each of us and through the world we create.
And when we can understand, love and respond to soul, we find meaning in all of our experiences – even the difficult ones.
On the other hand, when we resist the movement of soul within because we don’t understand what’s happening, we become ill, have accidents, experience emotional pain, struggle with money, work and relationships.Life becomes a real challenge.
The journey toward spirituality represents the quest to unite one's inner and outer world.This results in a sense of alignment and well being. It can be described as thefeeling of being in the flow.It is a feeling of wholeness; a oneness with who we are, and an awareness of how we fit with our external environment.Although this quest can be life-long, it can be particularly important in later in life as we begin to search for meaning and purpose and ask “is this all there is?”Increasing connection to one’s soul can often recognized by the development of presence, love, joy, peace, and empathy, and the diminishing of fear. This connection is experienced as an opening, a deepeningor a widening of one’s identity into a powerful, substantial sense of presence.This presence is felt as supportive, indeed being the very core of oneself, one’s essence.This “real” self both encompasses and vastly surpasses one’s outer, surface self, which by contrast is experienced as flimsy, insubstantial and almost empty.One’s identity is loosened from that limited surface self, and expanded to a non-ego identification with the vastness of creation, which is experienced nonetheless as emanating from a spiritual source deep within.And when we yearn for deeper answers to the questions of our life whether we call it following our spiritual journey, or living a more meaningful and loving life, it is all about responding to the basic impulse that draws us to becoming more conscious and compassionate.
It becomes necessary, then, for us to develop our spiritual intelligence. Few of us clearly know our life purpose.But if we watch how our lives unfold, and if we know what questions to ask ourselves, we can begin to understand why we are here.More importantly we can begin to discover us what is stopping us from changing. Sometimes it is hard to change. As human beings we prefer constancy and status quo to instability and change, and therefore when change comes there is resistance to avoid the transition and leap into the unpredictable and unknown.We are afraid to loose control. We often avoid by change being indecisive, ambivalent, impulsive and by procrastinating.We become stuck in careers that no longer serve us, in relationships that we have outgrown and lost in our addictions. The question then becomes: How do we consciously move past this resistance and make a doorway for transformation to discover and define our life’s purpose? Our life purpose reflects:What we naturally do best in life - the gifts, talents and skills our personality has to offer the world. How we aspire to be in life - the qualities of our authentic self. Knowing our life purpose and fully living it brings much meaning and fulfillment into our lives. When we consciously align with our deepest reasons for being, we tap into rich reserves of energy, personal power and passion.
How can we take care of our spirituality?
As mental health professionals, we address psychological aspects of a client’s problems but largely overlook the significance of their spirituality.That’s because spirituality wasn’t part of our training and we tend to think of spirituality and therapy as mutually exclusive – a kind of church-and-state mentality.
But spirituality isn’t a synonym for religion.It’s an energy that defines the way we view our world.And when we access this energy it empowers us with self-faith and courage to resolve problems and move ahead. Spiritual IntelligenceÒ (SQ) refers to the skills, abilities and behaviors we need to help us balance the expansive love that flows through our hearts and all creation with the need for discipline and responsibility (Zohar 2005). When we successfully balance these polarities in our own feelings and in how we treat others and the world, we are able to create forgiveness, healing and connection; we in fact are co-creating with God.Furthermore, when we access this intelligence we can succeed in the search for meaning in life, find a moral and ethical path to help guide us through life, and act out our sense of meaning and values.Signs of high Spiritual Intelligence include an ability to think out of the box, humility, and an access to energies that come from something beyond the ego, beyond us and our day-to-day concerns (Zohar 2005). The journey toward spirituality represents the quest to unite one's inner and outer world, to provide meaning and purpose to one’s life.The search, and consequent realization, provides an individual with a sense of alignment and order or a spiritual cohesiveness, which instills a sense of rightness and well-being. It is a sense of wholeness, a oneness with who we are and an awareness of how we fit with our external environment. Do you think that the majority of people are losing their faith in God and in angels?Why this is happening?
“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart... who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes”. (Carl Jung)
Spiritual intelligence is a way of thinking. Soul speaks in terms of vision.Spiritual Intelligence is about the questions more than theanswers. It lives in stories, poetry, metaphor, and in uncertaintyand paradox.If we want to change systems, we have to change human behavior; however, human behavior is not so easily changed.The prime responsibility of a visionary leader is to change the motivations that drive behavior to achieve real transformation. We have lost our spontaneity and ability to be creative. I believe many of us have lost our vision and ability to act accordingly from our deep beliefs and principles.
In twelve-step programs, people heal partly through the telling and sharing of their own stories. It is through the sharing of the trauma and pain and the subsequent healing that people form common bonds that unite them.Then, to get beyond that connection of pain, they need to go further by sharing their soulful moments, their hopes, and their dreams. This requires re-establishing a relationship with their creativity and, through their higher awareness, connecting with others on a spiritual level.After a certain point in therapy, vision seems to be more powerful in the recovery process than the clearing away the baggage from past scars. (Miller 2000)A client without vision cannot move forward toward complete recovery.Many clients lose enthusiasm for life, the will to live it joyfully and creatively, and the passion for interests and projects.Many have lost the ability to appreciate the positives in life and, more importantly, have lost a commitment to action, or to make a difference in this world.
Carl Jung (1957) created a technique which he called active imagination in which clients express various unconscious archetypal elements within his or her psyche. Jung (1957) believed active imagination to be a spontaneous, experiential process. Like psychodrama, active imagination allows unconscious images to be revealed with little conscious intervention. Jung (1957) would direct his clients to clear their mind so that an image could arise. After a moment of directed concentration images would spontaneously appear. Clients would then be encouraged to verbally and physically act them out, entering the scene and becoming a part of the action, directly experiencing their unconscious images.
Jung (1957) found the experiential nature of active imagination to be central to healing the psyche.Jung (1957 believed that rather than verbally processing or cognitively reviewing psychic material, the physical experiencing of the unconscious offers a transforming experience by directly experiencing unconscious material. Thus, one is able to transcend and heal fragmentation of the ego. The ego developed in early childhood can obstruct or distort one’s relationship with the divine.It can manifest a far richer consciousness in everyday life if brought into alignment with the soul. Our healing cannot be done alone, however, for it is the ego that is demanding separation and limitation. Anytime we separate ourselves from others, we know our personality is in control. Our ego focuses on how we are different from the world and our soul focuses on how we are the same. Today,one of the great dangers of transformational work is that the ego attempts to sidestep deep psychological work by leaping into the transcendent too soon. This is because the ego always fancies itself much more advanced than it actually is.
When we align these two aspects of ourselves, we can moveforward to our higher purpose to our soul’s mission. A soul under stress sacrifices parts of itself to be safe and loved. True healing involves helping the person to gradually re- own and re-integrate these split-off parts of self love, courage, a sense of empowerment, sexuality, spiritual connectedness, humility, surrender, tenderness, and independent thinking. Helping a person to redefine themselves by focusing inward toward their divine self and back toward their spontaneity and creativity in turn enables them to develop a relationship with their higher self and with their higher power (Miller C, 2007). Souldrama helps one to define their relationship to a higher power and thus to themselves as one that is all loving-not based on the internalized image of their parents or outside authoritarian figures.
Moreno (1920) called spontaneity and creativity the "godhead" in classical psychodrama.He stated that each person has a god-within that can be drawn on as a guide for a creative life and healing force. Spontaneity is the catalyst that warms us up to our creativity.Additionally, Moreno (1972) suggested that God acts within the creativity of each individual person.Such creativity and spontaneity is believed to be a connection with God as an expression of transpersonal identification.Rather than being a moralistic God, Moreno (1972) proposed that God encourages aesthetic values which highlight pleasure in creativity, discovery, and celebration of life in the here and now.Therefore God does not act in the role of a judge, but is instead one who invites caring, compassion, and the achievement of our full potential (Moreno, 1972), while we become co-creators.
Toward the end of his first published book, Who Shall Survive?Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974) described his hope for humanity -- the transformation of human consciousness through the integration of creative play, spontaneity, and psychological theory (Blatner, 2000).Moreno's (1946) methodology is a growth model emphasizing individual responsibility and the creating of one's destiny. Danah Zohar goes further as she says:“One reason that visionary leadership is in short supply today is the value our society places on one particular kind of capital--material capital.Too often the worth or value of an enterprise is judged by how much money it earns at the end of the day, or how much worldly power it gives us over others. This obsession with material gain has led to short-term thinking and the narrow pursuit of self-interest.It is true that any kind of enterprise we want to engage in requires some kind of financial wealth if it is to succeed in the short term.But for leadership to inspire long-term, sustainable enterprises, it needs to pursue two other forms of capital as well: social and spiritual. These three types of capitalresemble the layers in a wedding cake. Material capital is the top layer, social capital lies in the middle, and spiritual capital rests on the bottom, supporting all three. IQ, or intelligence quotient, was discovered in the early 20th century and is tested using the Stanford-Binet Intelligence scales. It refers to our rational, logical, rule-bound, problem-solving intelligence. It is supposed to make us bright or dim. It is also a style of rational, goal-oriented thinking. All of us use some IQ, or we wouldn't be functional. EQ refers to our emotional intelligence quotient. In the mid-1990s, in Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman articulated the kind of intelligence that our hearts, or emotions, have. EQ is manifested in trust, empathy, self-awareness, and self-control, and in the ability to respond appropriately to the emotions of others. It's a sense of where people are coming from; for example, if a boss or colleague seems to have had a fight at home before coming into the office that morning, it's not the best time to ask for a pay raise or put a new idea across.
SQ, our spiritual intelligence quotient, underpins IQ and EQ. Spiritual intelligence is ability to access higher meanings, values, abiding purposes, and unconscious aspects of the self and to embed these meanings, values, and purposes in living a richer and more creative life.Signs of high SQ include an ability to think out of the box, humility, and an access to energies that come from something beyond the ego, beyond just me and my day-to-day concerns. SQ is the ultimate intelligence of the visionary leader. It was the intelligence that guided men and women like Churchill, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa. The secret of their leadership was their ability to inspire people, to give them a sense of something worth struggling for.”
Could you explain how the Souldrama® therapy works
How can we do this? How do we move past the resistance to change? This is the challenge: one way seems to be by aligning the ego and the soul.
There are lots of techniques to work through resistance. Some work well. Others don’t work at all. This action-oriented multidisciplinary training system adds a psychospiritual element to psychodrama called Souldrama®, is a process that aligns ego and soul to enable us to reach our higher selves.
To support clients in identifying their vision and moving forward in achieving their life’s purpose, we need new, creative therapeutic tools to access our spiritual intelligence. SouldramaÒ(Miller, 2000,2007, 2006) is a psychospiritual developmental model that leads one through six stages of spiritual development aligning the ego and soul. I provides us with a new model to integrate and balance our rational, emotional and spiritual intelligences so that we can move past resistance and recognize and move on to our higher purpose, therefore creating more spiritually intelligent leadership. It is intended to be used as multi disciplinary training system that combines mind, body and spirit to create a therapeutic energy within a group process, Souldrama allows the soul to become a co-creator in a person’s life. This is the soul’s mission to co:create.
Souldrama as a therapeutic group action method is designed to help one to access their spiritual intelligence by aligning the ego and soul to integrate all three of our intelligences, the rational, the emotional, and the spiritual so that we can begin to hear the quiet voice of the soul directing us to be on our true purpose. During a workshop participants pass through six sequential stages of spiritual development and growth as they move past the resistance in their lives toward their higher purpose allowing the soul to become a co-creator in a person’s life and this is the soul’s mission to co:create. This process combines the mind, body and spirit to create a therapeutic energy within a group to foster spontaneity and creativity while the introduction of psychodramatic methods and concepts enlivens the spiritual journey! Our therapeutic workshops propose a combination and integration of the theoretical frameworks of methods of Miller’s, Zohar’s, Moreno’sandJung's models as a source of insight and introduction to a much needednew model forthe process of individual spiritual growth.This new model of Souldrama can assist in providing an environment that releases the unique creativity, imagination, and growth of individuals as they follow their spiritual paths to wholeness and provide a foundation for integrating the discovery of self with work deemed to be meaningful and full of purpose. We can use the energy of spirituality in this structure to move past resistance and create spiritually intelligent leadership.
In these times of crisis, more spirituality is needed as well as faith in the human element. I am the founder of the Center for Co Dependency, the Spring Lake Heights Counseling Center and the International Institute for Souldrama® in New Jersey. I am also a Trainer, Educator Practitioner of Psychodrama and teach psychodramatic methods to groups and individuals. I have been training the staff at an addictions center well as running my own practice for 20 years. Throughout the years, I have been doing trainings and presentations internationally and nationally in this new method. Because it is one of the first group therapeutic ACTION methods to help us align the ego and soul and move through all three intelligences achieve balance, it has been expanding rapidly. It is what has worked for me as a therapist to move those clients who have been “stuck” It is essentially a marriage of the ego and soul…science and religion.
As therapists and trainers, it is necessary to do our own personal development and spiritual growth. As we train in Souldrama, the process of going through the six stages of spiritual growth, will help us to remove our own blocks and resistances to bridge the gap between our own egos and souls and to put them into alignment. The stages of development are sequential and each stage builds upon the completion of the previous stage. As the stages are completed, the ego becomes more in alignment with the soul, and the energy in the group increases. On another level, the rite itself of going through the veils becomes an anchor for ones' future development, a reminder of basic truths that can be forgotten in the confusion of daily life. The Process: The stages of growth : Each stage of development has a particular purpose and goal. The group members are led through six stages or levels of spiritual growth each corresponding to a different level of intelligence. (Each stage is separated by a “veil”. The veils and stages are as follows. Stage One: Rational Intelligence: What I Think
Veil One: Meeting Your Messenger Veil Two Your Soul’s Mission: Stage Two : Emotional Intelligence: “ What I Feel” Veil Three Forgiveness Veil Four: The Heart of God Stage Three: Spiritual Intelligence “What I am” Veil Five: Confronting Evil: Veil Six: Eden. The Invisible Veil Stage Seven This is the time of transcendence when we can fully integrate our work from the veils. I am hoping you will be doing your own training in your own country. My visionwould like to have a representative from each county be on our Council of Souls for the International Institute of Souldrama. Uses for Souldrama The structure of the veils can be used for healing for
Children
Couples
Loss and Grief
The Elderly
Relationships
Career Development & Coaching
Mental Health Workers & Counselors
Addictions
Sports Counseling
Churches & Clergy
Spiritual Caregivers & Seekers
Corporate Trainers
Nurses & Medical Professions
And many others
Soul lives in connection and in relationship.Whenever we are present and conscious, soul emerges.When we hear music we love, or play, we are in the moment. The value of Souldrama is that by using action methods it keeps people in the present and allows them to access their qualities of spontaneity and creativity, the twin principles core to the fundamental theory of psychodrama.Spontaneity warms us up to our creativity; it is a way of meeting the moment and being in life.It means we are ready to respond as required by the situation. This ability must be natural as it is with children. In order for spontaneity to occur, a safe and playful environment must exist. Group members must be free from any consequences of exploring new attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
We all have the collective responsibility of continuing the works of our creator to become all that we can be and not be limited by the cultural conserves of society. Psychodrama makes the expansion of reality possible by methods not used in life.Souldrama takes this one step further by providing a circular model and structure to integrate through all three intelligences to align the ego and soul.
As counselors , We need more methods to nourish our souls, rather than more analytical thinking.Much education is based on the model ofcognitive intelligence. In our society we have developed theintellect while neglecting our emotions and our spiritual life.If our education were more holistic, as students wewould learn to balance our intellect with our emotional andspiritual growth. And as therapists we would take responsibilityfor our personal as well as our professional growth.How comfortable are we as therapists with our own spiritual growth?If there is a gap in our own spiritual development how comfortable are we brining spirituality into our sessions?
"Health," "whole," and "healing" all come from the same root.In the course of a therapeutic career we need knowledge and skillsfor our modern roles as therapists. We heal because ofwho we are and not because of what we do.This journey like love cannot only be read or spoken about, it needsto be experienced Souldrama is ideally suited for counselors, coaches, psychotherapists, therapists, healers, psychologists, teachers, doctors and ministers. this program is also offered without reservation to anyone who wants experience personal growth and to more deeply understand their own personal journey and assist others – family, friends and clients – in their life journey toward wellness and wholeness. Please click on my website www.souldrama.com for a wonderful slide show about Souldrama or think about sponsoring a workshop in your own country or e mail me a connie@souldrama.com. Recently this process has been written up in the attached flyer, New Advances in Therapy, June 2007 Published by Routledge as one of the first international efforts to combine the new advances in therapy and the Korean Journal of Group Psychotherapy June 2007 as well as the International Journal of Action methods. Winter 2000. My book Souldrama: A journey into the heart of God has been published in Brazil and America Blatner, A. (2000). Foundations of Psychodrama. NY: Springer Publishing Company. Conger, J.A. (1994), Spirit at Work: Discovering the Spirituality in Leadership, Jossey-Bass,San Francisco, CA.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1993). The evolving self. New York: HarperCollins.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990), Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Harper Perennial, New York, NY.
Jung, Karl, (2007) http://www.oktm.ca/Quotes_content-I.htm Jung, C.G. (1957). The Practice of Psychotherapy: Collected Works, Vol 16. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Jung, C.G. (1933), Modern Man in Search of a Soul, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, NY. Miller, C. (2000). The technique of Souldrama and its applications. The International Journal of action methods, 52, (no 4), 173-186.Haworth Press Miller, C. (2004)Souldrama: a journey into the heart of God.Self published. NJ3rd edition. 978-1-4116-9652-5 Copyright lulu Miller, C (2007) Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice Editor(s) - C Baim, J Burmeister, M Maciel Series: Advancing Theory in Therapy: Psychodrama,Spirituality and Souldrama pp 189-200Routledge: 15/05/2007 Miller, C (2007) The Korean Association for Psychodrama & Sociodrama; Volume 10 Number Onepp 45-80. Souldrama®: A Therapeutic Action Model to Create Spiritually Intelligent Leadership. Miller, C. (2007)Souldrama:A terapia da alma: Editora Agora; Sao Paulo, Brazil Moreno, J. L. (1972). The religion of God-Father. In P.E. Johnson, (Ed.), Healer of the Mind: A Psychiatrist's Search for Faith, 197-215. Nashville, TN: Abington. Moreno, J. L. (1971). Psychodrama. In H. I. Kaplan, & B. J. Sadock, (Eds.), Comprehensive group psychotherapy, 460-500. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins.
Moreno, J. L. (1946). Psychodrama: Vol 1. Beacon, NY: Beacon House
Moreno, Z. (1965). Psychodramatic rules, techniques and adjunctive methods. Group Psychotherapy, 18, 73-86.
Patterson, R.B. (1997), ``Religion or spirituality: a distinction'', Self-Help & Psychology Magazine,
Zohar D, Marshall I. SQ—the ultimate intelligence. London: Bloomsbury, 2001
Miller, C. (2000). The technique of Souldrama and its applications. The International Journal of action methods, 52, (no 4), 173-186.Haworth Press
Miller, C. (2004)Souldrama: a journey into the heart of God.Self published. NJ3rd edition. 978-1-4116-9652-5 Copyright lulu
Press Release “Souldrama®” to be Integrated into Seabrook Treatment Program Seabrook, NJ (Monday, March 1st 2004) – In an ongoing effort to provide progressive, holistic treatment to its alcohol and drug abusing patients, Seabrook House has today announced that Connie Miller, MS, NCC, PAT, will begin offering Souldrama®, her own unique form of psychodrama therapy on a monthly basis at the rural 40-acre Cumberland County campus. Souldrama®, Miller’s six stage model for spiritual growth and development, is an action-oriented system, designed for the population of co-dependents and for those adults from addictive and dysfunctional family systems, that takes groups and individuals through a seven-stage process of spiritual discovery using energy and the creative arts. Like psychodrama, Souldrama® involves acting out a script, much like theater – with a theme, setting, and characters. However, Miller believes that Souldrama® “builds on a new level of psychodrama.” Miller states, “It is a therapeutic teaching tool based upon the psychodramatic process that is designed for psychotherapists and other helping professionals to move clients who cannot move forward even though they may have finished their family of origin issues.” In its trial stage, patients have indicated that they are benefiting from Miller’s weekend sessions of Souldrama®, as evident in Anonymous Patient Satisfaction Survey, distributed to each patient by the Seabrook House Treatment Improvement Department. “Souldrama® offers an opportunity to release emotional and mental blocks that inhibit spiritual growth and help people discover their life's purpose,” explains Miller. The American Society of Group Psychotherapy & Psychodrama describes psychodrama as, “Employing guided dramatic action to examine problems or issues raised by an individual (psychodrama) or a group (“sociodrama”). Using experiential methods, sociometry, role theory, and group dynamics, psychodrama facilitates insight, personal growth, and integration on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels. It clarifies issues, increases physical and emotional well being, enhances learning and develops new skills.” On the benefits of this experiential form of therapy, Miller notes, “Action methods used in psychodrama offer exciting and effective ways to expand and enliven communication, learning, self-discovery and skill building in groups with those in recovery from substance abuse.” Miller is director of the Spring Lake Heights Counseling Center and co-director of the Institute for Creative Action and developer of Souldrama®, an action-oriented system that takes groups and individuals through a six-stage process of spiritual discovery using the creative arts. SHe has recently been applying this process to the 12 steps.
ABOUT SEABROOK HOUSE
Seabrook House has been helping families find the courage to recover from alcoholism and drug addiction since 1974. The non-profit, Seabrook, New Jersey-based facility assists patients in restoring their lives by embracing a way of life based upon the 12-Step principles of recovery. Seabrook House provides detoxification and inpatient rehabilitation for adults and women with dependent children. In addition, Seabrook House offers professional Family Intervention services to those families attempting to help a loved one who does not want the help. The family education and counseling services of Seabrook House have been nationally recognized. To contact Seabrook House, please visit the organization’s web site at www.seabrookhouse.org, or call the 24-hour help line at 1-800-761-7575.
Energy Always Follows Action!
Subject: View new Souldrama Book published in Portuguese in Brazil
A autora, que é americana, criou um trabalho especial para as pessoas que já tentaram todos os caminhos terapêuticos mas sentem que algo não foi alcançado. Para ela, a alma pede uma abordagem mais profunda e simbólica. Com recursos de psicologia, psicodrama e linguagem metafórica – no caso, usando anjos como arquétipos –, esta obra oferece acolhimento para as almas feridas.
Miller, C. (Fall, 2013). Eurotas Positive Spirituality: Souldrama®: A New Model for Putting the Twelve Steps into Action, Fall 2013. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.
Miller, C. (September 2013). Starve the Ego: Feed the Soul published in Romanian.
Infometeaza Egoul, Hraneste Sufletul! Editura Herald, Bucharest, Romania.
Miller, C. (Spring, 2013). Who’s Calling? Cell phone sociometry in action. Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy Vo 61, no. 1, 73-75.
Miller, C. (2013 January) Vistas Putting the Twelve Steps into Action. Vistas online.www.counseling.org. Retrieved from the Vistas Online Library.
Miller, C. (2013) Integrating Two Models for the Treatment of Addictions: Souldrama® and Twelve Step Recovery in Action. Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery, 8:81-111.
Miller, C. (2012) A New Model for Putting the Twelve Steps into Action: Souldrama. Summer
Vol.16, No4. Proctor Hospital Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery.
Miller, C: (2010) Starve the Ego: Feed the Soul: Souldrama: Ignite you spiritual intelligence. Self Published. Lulu.com
Miller, C. (2009) From Fearship to Friendship. Live Positive Magazine. April., India
Miller, C. (2008) Souldrama” Putting Spirituality into Action. Haworth Press; Journal for Creativity in Mental Health. 139-156. Vol.3, Number 1.
Miller, C. (2007). Souldrama®: A therapeutic action model to create spiritually intelligent leadership. The Korean Association for Psychodrama & Sociodrama, 10(1), 45-80.
Miller, C. (2007). Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice. In Baim, C., Burmeister, J., Maciel, M. (Eds.), Advancing Theory in Therapy: Psychodrama, Spirituality, and Souldrama (pp.189-200). London: Routledge Press.
Miller, C. (2007) Souldrama: A terapia da alma. Sao Paulo,Brazil: Editora Agora. Published in Brazil. ISBN 857183030 - 1
Miller,C. 2007). Souldrama®: A Therapeutic Action Model to Create Spiritually Intelligent Leadership. Retrieved from Vistas online library, January 28, 2007, from www.counseling.org.
Miller, C. (2006). Souldrama: A journey into the heart of God (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Miller.
Self-Published Lulu.com ISBN-13: 978-1411696525
Miller, C. (2000). The technique of Souldrama and its applications. The International Journal of Action Methods, 52, (4), 173-186.
Souldrama®: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose – Putting Spirituality into Action. Connie Miller,Jan 30, 2008.All rights reserved. Keynote address for Texas Southern University.
Today, we are all agents of change.
If we want to change systems, we have to change human behavior; however, human behavior is not so easily changed.The prime responsibility of a visionary leader is to change the motivations that drive behavior to achieve real transformation.
What is rising now is a new belief system, a new ideology, or as the Bible says, "a new heaven and a new earth” that is not a location but refers to our inner world of spiritual consciousness.The "new heaven" is the transformed state of human consciousness and the new earth is an outer manifestation of the inner form and its reflection in the physical form.As we are witnessing now, collective human consciousness and life on our planet are always intrinsically connected. As a person grows and changes, this will be mirrored in the physical forms of our earth and global upheavals. What constitutes spirituality? Today we begin a spiritual journey searching for meaning and purpose in our lives and we ask ourselves, is this all there is? As spiritual leaders it is important to continue our own spiritual journey; many of us need a safe place to go to learn new methods and modern skills to help our clients, as well as ourselves, heal.
Today we have hope, aradical transformation of human consciousness. In Hinduism this is called enlightenment, in Christianity it is the salvation thatoccurs with Jesus,in Buddhism it is the end of suffering.Liberation and awakening are key terms that are usedtoday for the transformation of human consciousness.
Spirituality has little to do with what we choose to believe but more with a state of mind.This state of consciousness determines how we act in the world with ourselves and others. Spirituality then, is an energy that defines the way we see the world.When we access that energy, it empowers us with the courage to resolve problems and the faith in ourselves to move forward to achieve our life’s purpose. Today, we need new, creative therapeutic tools that use this energy to move past resistance to access our spiritual intelligence and to create spiritually intelligent leadership. The we ask, "How do we go past the fear, delusion, and need for power which causes so much personal conflict in relationships within us and between others?"Fear ,greed, and power come from the ego's need to attach itself to something outside to obtain recognition and identity.I believe that until we shift our consciousness to move through our own blocks in our lives, integrating all three intelligences, the Rational, Emotional and the Spiritual, can there be change. Wholeness involves bringing together what has been separated;this integration of the Ego and the Soul.Many methods rationally tell us that we need to align these two aspects of ourselves but few provide a psychotherapeutic action model to demonstrate ‘how” to align the two. Souldrama provides us with onemethod to do so.
This psychospiritual developmental model(Miller, 2000,2006,2007))leads you through seven stages of spiritual development aligning the ego and soul.It enables one to recognize and move on to their higher purpose, therefore creating more spiritually intelligent leadership. It is intended to be used as multidisciplinary training system that combines mind, body, and spirit to create a therapeutic energy within a group process, putting soul into action to become a co-creator in a person’s life.
Souldrama is a much new needed new model for the process of individual spiritual growth.This new model of Souldrama can assist in providing an environment that releases the unique creativity, imagination, and growth of individuals as they follow their spiritual paths to wholeness and provide a foundation for integrating the discoveryof self with work deemed to be meaningful and full of purpose. Similar to a pilgrimage Souldrama takes us through seven doors of spiritual transformation:each door leads us to a higher level of spiritual growth and transformation as we (1) accept the call to journey for a specific purpose; (2) find the faith in our vision needed to set out; (3) learn how to invoke the strength of spirit; (4) learn how to allow the spirit to speak and work through us in order to persist; (5) gain control over the obstacles that slow us down or cause resistance; (6) learn how to connect with our spiritual intelligence andupon arrival at the destination of our pilgrimage; (7) return to our home community, bringing back the blessings obtained.
An absence of spirituality shows itself when one feels separate from others.Religion seems to be a set of thoughts or beliefs and the people who choose to identify with these beliefs choose to practice this religion.It is important not to make these beliefs our identity. Having a set of beliefs that you become associated with does not make us a spiritual person; the more we make our beliefs our identity the more we become cut off from our spirituality as our truth becomes equated with thought and the rational mind and therefore more ego identified.The mind takes over and says that we need to think as “they “do, or you will be judged.Religions can often bring separation while spirituality brings unity.
Aligning the ego.
The ego is very busy trying to define who we think we are and the soul is trying to communicate to the ego who we truly are.
The ego speaks in terms of words or rational intelligence (what I think).Words reduce reality to something the human mind can grasp but such words can never describe in-depth the ultimate purpose of your life, or your experiences, or who you are.The ego is who you think you are, the false “I”or the illusory sense of self; as Einstein said, “an optical illusion of consciousness” . When we move through the rational intelligence we can dis-identify from our thoughts andthere is a feeling of movement frombeing content in your mind to being in the background.When we become locked in compulsive thinking we cannot be present to hear the voice of the soul. The ego is a form of recurring thoughts and conditioned mental/emotional thought patterns that identify it to form an attachment to something outside of itself. The ego is conditioned by the past and its identity is the content to which you identify yourself growing up.You are not your past.Sometimes it is difficult to let those old roles go for fear we will have no identity.We try to find ourselves in material things and addictions and then we lose ourselves in things, only to want more. In order to stay safe, to survive, and to feelloved as a child, we forget who we really are as the ego develops.As the ego forms,we begin to define ourselves in relation to others and by the roles we play in life. We beginto define ourselves with words; we learn how to be clever to survive and lose our spiritual wisdom as we learn rational intelligence.
We play roles to stay safe in childhood and remain stuck in these roles because we feel that we are not enough and need to play a role, or “do” something in order to “get” recognition or love .As soon as we try to “be” something, we are focused on an outside goal. The ego is shallow and short lived.
When we stop playing roles we can be fully present in a field of consciousness.
When we stop playing roles there is no need to protect or defend the false self: the ego. We become fully present and focused on the situation and become the natural, spontaneous person we are meant to be. Souldrama® teaches us how to release the old roles in our lives and practice taking on new ones in action as we move through all three levels of intelligence.
Spiritual intelligence does not mean being clever, for that implies short sightedness.Many politicians are clever in order to attain a goal outside of themselves andare motivated by selfinterest, gains are short-sighted. If cognitive intelligence is about thinking, and emotionalintelligence is about feeling, then spiritual intelligenceis about being.In a holistic view of life, we are creatures with a mind, a body,and a spirit—all interconnected and arranged in a patternthat means that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.In the same way we can look at our intelligences.
Spiritual intelligence sees the larger whole and how we are all connected.Cleverness divides, Spiritual Intelligence includes.When we free the ego, emotions and thoughts become depersonalized and we stop taking things personally.There is no longer a Self in them—your human story no longer defines you and becomes of secondary importance in your history.No longer clouded by your sense of identity, you become the light of your presence, the awareness of what comes prior to any deep thoughts and emotions. You are able to have a vision and purpose.
As Zohar says, "SQ, our spiritual intelligence quotient, underpins IQ and EQ. Spiritual intelligence is ability to access higher meanings, values, abiding purposes, and unconscious aspects of the self and to embed these meanings, values, and purposes in living a richer and more creative life.Signs of high SQ include an ability to think out of the box, humility, and an access to energies that come from something beyond the ego, beyond just me and my day-to-day concerns. SQ is the ultimate intelligence of the visionary leader. It was the intelligence that guided men and women like Churchill, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa. The secret of their leadership was their ability to inspire people, to give them a sense of something worth struggling for.”
A new heaven on earth calls for new methods to get our message out to the masses. I hope this new method of Souldrama can offer you, your congregations, and clients a new way to put spirituality into action and to access your own spiritual intelligence."Health," "wholeness," and "healing" all come from the same root.In the course of our spiritualcareers we need the knowledge and skillsfor our modern roles as spiritual leaders. We need to learn to keep up with the world and help others see things in a new way. As spiritual leaders, we all need a safe place to do our own personal work and to grow to access our own spiritual intelligence and to remove the blocks in our own lives. As we remove our own blocks, it will be mirrored in your own world like the proverbial pebble in the pond. If you train in or experience this new method, you will be accessing your own spiritual intelligence. Remember, we heal because ofwho we are and not because of what we do.
Miller, C. (2004). Souldrama: A journey into the heart of God (3rd ed.) New Jersey: Miller.
Miller, C. (2007). Souldrama®: A therapeutic action model to create spiritually intelligent leadership. The Korean Association for Psychodrama & Sociodrama, 10(1), 45-80. Miller, C. (2007). Psychodrama: Advances in Theory and Practice. In Baim, C., Burmeister, J., Maciel, M. (Eds.), Advancing Theory in Therapy: Psychodrama, Spirituality, and Souldrama (pp.189-200). London: Routledge Press. Miller, C. (2007). Souldrama: A terapia da alma. Sao Paulo,Brazil: Editora Agora. Miller, C. (2007). Souldrama®: A Therapeutic Action Model to Create Spiritually Intelligent Leadership. Retrieved from Vistas online library, January 28, 2007, from www.counseling.org. Zohar, D. (1992). Spiritually Intelligent Leadership. Leader to Leader, 38, 45-51.
Connie Miller 8/17/07 1 - What is the relation between spirituality and souldrama? The journey toward spirituality represents the quest to unite one's inner and outer world, to provide meaning and purpose to one’s life.The search, and consequent realization, provides an individual with a sense of alignment and order or a spiritual cohesiveness, which instills a sense of rightness and well-being. It is a sense of wholeness, a oneness with who we are and an awareness of how we fit with our external environment. I define spirituality as your personalrelationship with a “Ultimate Source of All Being”, some call this entity God. Whatever we choose to call this source, most importantly what matters is that this source is one that is seen as one that is incredibly loving. It is the constant goal of Souldrama to help one to define their relationship to a higher power and thus to themselves as one that is all loving-not based on the internalized image of their parents or other authority figures. Spirituality then becomes an energy that defines the way we view our world and when we access this energy, we can be empoweredwith self-faith and the courage to move past the resistance and problems in our lives that stop us from moving forward toward our higher purpose. I found that in my practice, that even after years oftherapy people remained stuck in jobs, careers and relationships that they had long outgrown, afraid to move forward. My question then became“How do we consciously move past this resistance and make a doorway for transformation to discover and define our life’s purpose? How can we access this energy to create more spiritually intelligent leadership?I then created Souldramaâ.
Souldramaâ provides us withan action-oriented multidisciplinary group technique of psychotherapyto access our spiritual intelligence. As a therapeutic group action model that leads participants through six sequentialstages of spiritual development with the goal of aligning the ego and soul.It can help group members move past resistance to recognize and move on to their higher purpose, therefore creating spiritually intelligent leadership.
Psychodramatically based, it is intended to be used as multi disciplinary training system that combines the mind, body and spirit to create a therapeutic energy within a group process to foster spontaneity and creativity. Souldrama allows the soul to become a co-creator in a person’s life and this is the soul’s mission to co:create.
What is important here, is that Souldrama uses the energy of spirituality and the group to create an action method to align the ego and soul.Energy always follows action. Energy is always moving wanting to clear us and connect us to that divine force-the healing energy of love and compassion . Our need to talk, interact and simply be with each other is part of our development.Group psychotherapy is the most viable method for initiating, improving and evaluating connections.Adding action techniques is a dramatic way to alter the process of a group.It focuses the consciousness of the members on their interactions, which in turn channels and enhances the energy within a group, evaluating connections.
The major contribution action methods bring to the interactive group psychotherapy process is consciousness.Consciousness is no small matter.It enhances our interactions by making them intentional.When action is added to the group it dissolves passivity.Acting on thoughts and feelings gives greater visibility to our inner world and greater energy to our worlds, action also helps clarify our thoughts and feeling.When we act, we see our intentions more clearly than when we use only words or only reflect on our thought and feelings.
2 - Could Souldrama be applied by psychodramists? Psychodrama originally created by J. L. Moreno is the therapeutic modality that is used as the primary method of therapy within the structure of the veils. It is best understood as a method integrating aspects of existential therapy, Gestalt therapy, Transactional analysis and Jungian analytical psychology as a holistic form of multimodal psychotherapy.
I am a trainer, educator and practioner of psychodrama in the USA. I found thatpsychodrama touches the transpersonal but not in any structured way.
Souldrama is meant to be used by psychodramatists, in fact, the process is an outgrowth of pscyhodrama butgives psychodrama structure.The stages of development in Souldrama are sequential and each stage builds upon the completion of the previous stage. As the stages are completed, the ego becomes more in alignment with the soul, and the energy in the group increases. Today,one of the great dangers of transformational work is that the ego attempts to sidestep deep psychological work by leaping into the transcendent too soon. This is because the ego always fancies itself much more advanced than it actually is.Souldrama offers a structure and ritualistic process to reclaim and recover the parts of us that have been split off for re-integration and healing.Re-integration cannot be achieved in a single healing process, thus Souldrama, offers significant gains as the individual journeys though the stages of development andbegins to recognize and re-own some disowned emotion and reclaiming that which has been lost or split off to realign with the soul.
Souldrama is structured into three levels of development passing from the rational through the emotional through the spiritual level of intelligences.Each level has two stages or veils to pass through.The stages are sequential and each time a person completes all six they remain in a level of integration and transformation until they repeat the stages all over again.
This process also allows much flexability for the therapist to develop their own creativity within the structure of the veils, in fact, this method is being applied to recovery from addictions and to grief work.
Souldrama® involves an energy process, including prayer, to facilitate the mind, body and spirit working together to remove the blocks that keep us from moving forward in life.Through the use of psychodrama, we invite our clients to raise their consciousness, change their perceptions, and see other possibilities for living their lives. What is important is to follow the structure of the six level developmental process Each stage of development has a particular purpose and goal. The group members are led through six stages or levels of spiritual growth each corresponding to a different level of intelligence. (Each stage is separated by a “veil”. The veils and stages are as follows. Stage One: Rational Intelligence: What I Think Veil One: Meeting Your Messenger Veil Two Your Soul’s Mission: Stage Two : Emotional Intelligence: “ What I Feel” Veil Three Forgiveness Veil Four: The Heart of God Stage Three: Spiritual Intelligence “What I am” Veil Five: Confronting Evil: Veil Six: Eden. The Invisible Veil Stage Seven This is the time of transcendence when we can fully integrate our work from the veils, before the stages start over again as life is circular, not linear. 3 - Incredulous people can gain with this method? William James made a study of the freedom of will and came to the conclusion that two choices were important: firstly acknowledging that our own choices are creative and secondly acknowledging equally that sometimes we have to surrender our will. Sometimes it is hard to change. As human beings we prefer constancy and status quo to instability and change, and therefore when change comes there is resistance to avoid the transition and leap into the unpredictable and unknown.We are afraid to loose control. We often avoid by change being indecisive, ambivalent, impulsive and by procrastinating.We become stuck in careers that no longer serve us, in relationships that we have outgrown and lost in our addictions A lack of spirituality exists when feels separate from others. Our healing cannot be done alone for it is the ego that is demanding separation and limitation. Anytime we separate ourselves from others, we know our personality is in control. Our ego focuses on how we are different from the world and our soul focuses on how we are the same. When we align these two aspects of ourselves, we can moveforward to our higher purpose - to our soul’s mission.
Einstein said it best when he claimed; A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space.He experiences himself, his thoughts, and feelings, as something separated from the rest -a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
Therefore the first stage in Souldrama includesMeeting Your Messenger and your Soul’s Mission: The purpose of the first veil is to surrender, to access our faith and to build trust among group members. Without the first stage being completed, the other stages cannot begin.
In this stage the process of prayer is invoked.Prayer offers surrender and the ability to relax and trust. A high level of trust allows an individual to commit passionately to his/her path without attachment to the outcome. ( Miller, C 2000)This attitude is captured in the Serenity Prayer from Alcoholics Anonymous: “Lord grant me the courage to change the things I can change, to accept the things I can’t and the wisdom to know the difference.”The first step is to turn our will over to something higher than ourselves.Here it is the energy of the group.In twelve-step programs, people heal partly through the telling and sharing of their own stories. It is through the sharing of the trauma and pain and the subsequent healing that people form common bonds that unite them.Then, to get beyond that connection of pain, they need to go further by sharing their soulful moments, their hopes, and their dreams. This requires re-establishing a relationship with their creativity and, through their higher awareness, connecting with others on a spiritual level.
To become balanced, the individual's Self must transform the ego and achieve alignment with its individuality. However, the ego fears the loss of what is known “its identity” and resists by struggling with the unknown aspect of self.Individuals who continue to be disconnected from their unconscious sides and operate solely from their egos often experience extreme adverse emotions. In fact, if the struggle continues unconsciously, individuals who find themselves unable to fulfill their unique destinies may experience depression often with detrimental consequences their lives.This is because the ego always fancies itself much more advanced than it actually is. It becomes necessary, then, for us to develop our spiritual intelligence.
4 - Is it enough, to gain with Souldrama, if we just use this book? I can best answer this with a question back,How do we learn to swim? We can read many books,can learnmany different techniques and facts, but the truth is that at some point we need to take the action get into the water. If not how we will everhave the experience?
It is the same with Souldrama, we can read about the technique but we need to experience the process in relationship to others. Souldrama in a group process offers more than the validation of that which can be given by a single other person; one person can be too easily discounted, a group offers a stronger feedback.During the process of Souldrama you will find yourself in a sacred spacewith those on a similar journey similarities and where the goal will always be towards healing, identifyingdesires and to affection for a few persons nearest us.
5 - How could we know when a person is “balk” on this hygienic process? A professional that ignores Souldrama, for example, is able to advise his patient or he can’t notice the stage of paralization? I believe as therapists we can only take people as far in their lives we have gone.As therapists, we must look for ways to recreate ourselves and to create spiritually intelligent leadership.Our creativity holds the key to our life dream, purpose, or calling.However, we place many obstacles between our creative gifts and ourselves.Creativity is the ability to manifest what has real meaning and purpose for us, our soul’s mission.When creativity is shut down in childhood in order to stay safe, we remain in jobs and relationships that we have outgrown, that no longer serve us.When we learn to listen to the inner voice of our own spirit as opposed to the internalized critical voice of our parents, we are able to follow the voice that leads us toward fulfilled, creative lives.All the signals from that spiritual or soul voice are for the purpose of giving us back our lives as creators.That spiritual voice is difficult to hear if you are struggling with learned beliefs, trying to control the outcome of situations and enmeshed in expectations of the way things “should” turn out.When we are on our soul’s purpose, we stop defending and begin to truly live.One of our most important relationships is with the soul.Spirituality is missing when love of life is absent.
"Health," "whole," and "healing" all come from the same root.In the course of a therapeutic career we need knowledge and skillsfor our modern roles as therapists. We heal because ofwho we are and not because of what we do. What we can do as therapists is to help others to recreate themselves anew. This is the time for teaching, healing and generating new action techniques for we are all one and must become co-creators with each other to become spiritual activists and healers. The technique of Souldrama® is an adjunct to the therapeutic group process born from Moreno's philosophy and is designed to move people through the stagnation and despair so that they can see their own lives in redemptive terms.Holding out hope for our ultimate redemption gives us faith and hope that our legacies will be good and that our life has had a higher purpose. What we can do as therapists is to help others recreate themselves.I encourage therapists to develop more action techniques to move their clients forward to becoming the grandest version of the highest vision they hold for themselves.This is the time for teaching.We are all one and must become co-creators with each other to become spiritual activists and healers.
If cognitive intelligence is about thinking and emotionalintelligence is about feeling, then spiritual intelligenceis about being.In a holistic view of life, we are creatures with a mind, a body,and a spirit—all interconnected and arranged in a patternthat means that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.In the same way we can look at our intelligences.Much education is based on the model ofcognitive intelligence. In our society we have developed theintellect while neglecting our emotions and our spiritual life.If our education were more holistic, as students wewould learn to balance our intellect with our emotional andspiritual growth. And as therapists we would take responsibilityfor our personal as well as our professional growth.
6 - What is the function of faith and spirituality, generally speaking, on peoples’ life?
The journey toward spirituality represents the quest to unite one's inner and outer world.This results in a sense of alignment and well being. It can be described as thefeeling of being in the flow.It is a feeling of wholeness; a oneness with who we are, and an awareness of how we fit with our external environment.Although this quest can be life-long, it can be particularly important in later in life as we begin to search for meaning and purpose and ask “is this all there is?”Increasing connection to one’s soul can often recognized by the development of presence, love, joy, peace, and empathy, and the diminishing of fear. This connection is experienced as an opening, a deepeningor a widening of one’s identity into a powerful, substantial sense of presence.This presence is felt as supportive, indeed being the very core of oneself, one’s essence.This “real” self both encompasses and vastly surpasses one’s outer, surface self, which by contrast is experienced as flimsy, insubstantial and almost empty.One’s identity is loosened from that limited surface self, and expanded to a non-ego identification with the vastness of creation, which is experienced nonetheless as emanating from a spiritual source deep within.And when we yearn for deeper answers to the questions of our life whether we call it following our spiritual journey, or living a more meaningful and loving life, it is all about responding to the basic impulse that draws us to becoming more conscious and compassionate.
7 - Is there a way to pass over mental obstacles or “lift the curtain”, without a professional help?
I don’t know. I believe today we live in split realitites between ourpersonality and our true self. Personality is our daily companion, our conscious self that sees the world through the eyes of limitation and dutifully keeps us informed about what we can and cannot do. Our true self, on the other hand, patiently stands by, offering the unwavering knowledge that a state of vibrant well-being and unlimited possibility is our true nature, a birthright that can be lived if we choose to do so. Our personality would say that there is no way to overcome mental obstacles without professional help, however, divine order and divine logic are not the same as earthly logic and reason and cannot always be perceived by our minds.Your divine potential is the fullest expression of your spirit; it is discovering the depths of your capacity to create and express love, compassion, forgiveness, generosity and wisdom.Your divine potential becomes more audible once you release your ego’s need to know why things happen as they do.Your divine potential motivates you to discover the greatest purpose and meaning of your life. It is our conscience and intuition. Every relationship in your life is an experience to grow and transform your life. True self simply refers to the aspect of our being that is completely aware of its expanded nature no matter what we may be experiencing at the time.Whenever we feel constrained, fearful, unworthy, inadequate or anything we deem to be negative, we have identified with our personality. We can always choose to view the same situation from the perspective of our soul.The veils are simply mental barriers or illusions represented symbolically by gauze-like material that are used to describe different stages of healing within the journey. This new model of Souldrama utilizes the process of the veils, as representation of the six stages of spiritual growth to move through and integrate all three intelligences, as the ultimate symbol of the spiritually intelligent self…the obvious way to combine the great Eastern and Western traditions of the self with the latest insights from science to move past resistance. Psychodrama is a group process. Some issues, particularly shame, are most readily treated in a group rather than individually. The ultimate release of shame requires that one acknowledge shameful behavior to a group of peers, release the judgment of shame, and receive loving acceptance in spite of it. The loving support of a group with healthy norms is invaluable to healing many issues in addition to shame, and provides the ongoing reinforcement necessary to make behavior change permanent. Advantages of group work also include the efficiency of benefit to multiple group members of one member's session. Often, the participants who play roles in a session, or those in the non-participating audience find their issues getting triggered during someone else's session. Also, participants benefit from the modeled social learning provided by observing other members' coping strategies, resilience, and triumphs.
8 - What is “generativity”? How could we become part of it? You affirm on your production that the search for solutions is the reason of restriction to “go ahead”. How could we change this thought?
Generativity takes center stage in the seventh stage of Erik Erickson's eight-stage model of the human life course.In each stage, the developing person confronts a central psychological issue.The seventh stage is Middle Adulthood where generativity versus stagnation and one asks, "How can I fashion a legacy of the self?"The eighth and final stage is Old Age where Ego-integrity versus Despair and one asks, "How can I accept the gift of my life?"
Erickson believed that in order to be "generative" as opposed to "stagnant", people must have a belief in the species.They must have faith that despite suffering and setback, despite evil, human beings are potentially good and human life can be good for generations to come.The more generative people become, the more they can constantly imagine such futures and envision a better world for themselves and society.Generativity takes us beyond the short-term gains we often seek in daily life and orients us to the long run: "I am what survives me."What do you imagine when you picture the good that will outlive you?
Today we look for the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it and search again for the meaning of life.We must look for ways to recreate ourselves and to create spiritually intelligent leadership.Our creativity holds the key to our life dream, purpose, or calling.However, we place many obstacles between our creative gifts and ourselves.Creativity is the ability to manifest what has real meaning and purpose for us, our soul’s mission.When creativity is shut down in childhood in order to stay safe, we remain in jobs and relationships that we have outgrown, that no longer serve us.When we learn to listen to the inner voice of our own spirit as opposed to the internalized critical voice of our parents, we are able to follow the voice that leads us toward fulfilled, creative lives.All the signals from that spiritual or soul voice are for the purpose of giving us back our lives as creators.That spiritual voice is difficult to hear if you are struggling with learned beliefs, trying to control the outcome of situations and enmeshed in expectations of the way things “should” turn out.When we are on our soul’s purpose, we stop defending and begin to truly live.One of our most important relationships is with the soul.Spirituality is missing when love of life is absent. An image that comes to mind is that of a gardener preparing the soil for planting, carefully erecting fences to keep away trespassers.The gardener continually turns over the soil, preparing it but never planting the seeds.Thus, the garden is ready, but the seeds are never planted.The seeds are our creativity - our life’s purpose - the part of our soul that needs nourishing and growth. In the codependents’ recovery process, the missing piece…the planting of the seeds…is forward movement with the energy of joy.
9 - Why do people “sabotage” themselves unconsciously? How to avoid that?
Co-dependency, as I define it, is an absence of relationship with the self. When one learns to look outside themselves for validation, one distances from one’s own soul. The future client, at a very early age, begins to respond to the parents “control drama” or energy and learns to read that energy non-verbally assuming a response, which allows them to feel safe in a dysfunctional and/or addictive family system. Their response becomes either one of or a mixture of the following: victim, aggressor or one who is passive-aggressive. They depend on another’s energy in order to survive and lose themselves, mistakenly experiencing this “connection” or bond with their primary caregivers as love. In the dysfunctional family system, love and attention are so inconsistent, that the child becomes addicted to that inconsistency. Love means being addicted to waiting for the feelings of love that comes from outside oneself; that is addicted to the potential of love. When one is co-dependent, one is addicted to this potential.One is always looking outside oneself for validation to learn how to act or feel. Since co-dependency is an absence of relationship with the self, one is always seeking to attach to another person or thing.The addiction becomes one of potential because one never can find the perfect other. With eating disorders, there is a strong addiction to the image of who one could be if that extra weight were lost. In dysfunctional relationships, it is about who the other person could be if he would just stop drinking, stop drugging and so forth.Within oneself, it is about “who I could be if I would just…”This addiction to potential stops one from feeling true self-love.The negative inner voice is so strong that even after family of origin issues are resolved, the person fails to move forward to a higher purpose. Codependents are addicted to their own potential and, instead of moving forward, they engage inself-sabotaging behavior. They learn that in order to “be” or to exist, they must first “do” something, in order to “get” love. Their energy comes from an addiction to outside problems as opposed to energy drawn from within created by living a life full of purpose. Often that is why I call addiction a spiritual calling, but one that goes to the wrong address. When love and attention are shown in this family system, it is often negative and associated with abuse.Separation from the family is difficult because the child is worried for its own safety and security and often cannot complete this necessary stage of separation. If one is always focused on what one needs to survive in a family, one cannot focus on one’s own personal development. spontaneity, creativity and openness – attributes of the spiritual self- are stifled. The codependent’s bond or addiction to potential is difficult to break since it is experienced internally as the source of self-love and later becomes the cause of self-defeating behavior.Codependents believe they are not allowed to have, or do not deserve to have, sufficient love or to experience it too long.They are actually frightened when experiencing intimacy. Teaching intimacy can only be accomplished in a consistent loving atmosphere or, if the clients are advanced enough, within the framework of a regular group which imitates the dynamics of a healthy family system. I believe that one of the best tools, and one that has proven to be the most effective for this task, has been experiential therapy and psychodrama, with all members of the group participating. Indeed, dysfunctional roles tend to exist for sometime even after they have outlived their usefulness. These roles remain stubbornly functional.The client from this population is often fiercely loyal but mainly only to the dysfunction of the family. Never having had an identity, their dysfunction becomes their identity.Clients are often reluctant to give up their old “label” even after many years of counseling. Their diagnosis becomes their reality and their lifestyle. Instead of living a life of joy, life continues to be one problem after another.
When people are in difficulty, they think of the future in terms of its problems rather than what they want from it. Questions involving the future often can cause difficulty for protagonists because they generally have not considered what their lives would be like if their problems were resolved. If clients from dysfunctional family systems think that every problem requires an explanation in order for it to be resolved, the search for explanations severely limits the client’s forward movement.This is especially true if they believe that explanations need to be difficult and problematic.Clients, who continually get their energy from problems, keep creating problems to experience this energy, thus severely limit their thinking and creativity.This keeps one from living in the present and tuned into the moment.Living in the present allows us to experience that oneness with soul-energy.If we live creatively, fulfilling our soul’s purpose, we can connect to that positive, loving soul energy and be invested with the process of life, not the outcome.
A client from a dysfunctional family system views their higher power as being outside, not within, themselves, and they have developed internalized object relationships with the spiritual beings in their lives. Many of these relationships have become contaminated with residuals of childhood traumas and misunderstandings. Spirituality is a state of “being” not “getting” and it is important for the client to develop a relationship with that higher self. According to many of my clients, closeness to God was felt only when a problem existed and they needed to ask for help or forgiveness.Unfortunately, the only time many clients feel connected to God is when a problem exists and they need to ask for help or forgiveness.Is it any wonder that one continues to create problems in order to feel connected to God?Thus, even the relationship with God is based on problems, not joy. This is not to discount our wounds or our feelings, but when one remains “stuck” for many years and is unable to move forward, a new therapeutic tool is needed. Our energy needs to come from joy and a daily connection of living in the present, not from problems. 10. Sometimes, negatives thoughts comes to mind, although when we don’t want. How can we change it?
When people are in difficulty, they think of the future in terms of its problems rather than what they want from it. Questions involving the future often can cause difficulty for protagonists because they generally have not considered what their lives would be like if their problems were resolved. If clients from dysfunctional family systems think that every problem requires an explanation in order for it to be resolved, the search for explanations severely limits the client’s forward movement.This is especially true if they believe that explanations need to be difficult and problematic.Clients, who continually get their energy from problems, keep creating problems to experience this energy, thus severely limit their thinking and creativity.This keeps one from living in the present and tuned into the moment.Living in the present allows us to experience that oneness with soul-energy.If we live creatively, fulfilling our soul’s purpose, we can connect to that positive, loving soul energy and be invested with the process of life, not the outcome.
Souldrama teaches you to see your parents as your “spiritual teachers” Balance midway between ego and the soul resides in the heart. Repairing damaged balance requires attending to the practical, the somatic and the "here and now" experience; it also requires letting go of old roles patterns, beliefs and structures. Then we are able to experience an "open heart," where we allow the vulnerability of taking others in as well as putting oneself out to others. Buddhist psychology recognizes that affective mental processes or emotional excitements are rooted in cognitive mental processes, such as the formation of concepts or interpretation of experiences. According to how you interpret the situation, you become emotionally excited or become calm and relaxed. Even mental processes are habits of thought which have been learned, and therefore which can be unlearned by consciously stopping their repetition. It is here that the protagonist begins to reframe the wounds from their parents as gifts. They now begin to recognize a higher purpose and are able to stand back from a situation or problem and see the bigger picture; see the problems in a wider context. This stage is in the first level and must be completed before we can move to level two.
11 - What is the better way to expand spirituality?
Moreno felt that we co create our lives and that we all have the potential to be Godlike and that spontaneity and creativity are those qualities that can stream us into our Godlike natures. One recognizes in this the honoring and the power of the present moment.It is the constant goal of Souldrama to help one to define their relationship to a higher power and thus to themselves as one that is all loving-not based on the internalized image of their parents or other authority figures. Psychodrama as a therapeutic factor has the constant goal to develop and train spontaneity in its participants to remove the psychological and emotional blocks in its way, so that the individual can as Einstein says, “stay alive while living.” 12 - You tell that miracles happens when people open their hearts. How this happen?Only think is it enough for it? Experiences patterned by our ego are not experienced directly or purely.Our perceptions have many veils and patterns to them and our actions and choices are conditioned by our history.By understanding our actions and feelings -- by recognizing what is truly underlying a given situation -- we begin to appreciate the nature of these obstructions and how they developed. When the ego dissolves we can then have mystical experiences.By connecting to the positive loving energy of the soul, a healing of the past can occur without chronically re-experiencing intense feelings of pain and negativity to which we have become addicted.The veils are simply mental barriers or illusions represented symbolically by gauze-like material that are used to describe different stages of healing within the journey. This new model of Souldrama utilizes the process of the veils, as representation of the six stages of spiritual growth to move through and integrate all three intelligences, as the ultimate symbol of the spiritually intelligent self…the obvious way to combine the great Eastern and Western traditions of the self with the latest insights from science to move past resistance.
The ego can manifest a far richer consciousness in everyday life than thought possible if brought into alignment with soul. SouldramaÒ, which Ideveloped as an adjunct to psychodrama in the treatment of codependency, is an action-oriented method that includes both psychodramatic and narrative techniques Souldrama® redefines a human’s relationship to God.Rather than being subservient to God, we are a part of God.This recognition helps to establish a greater sense of belonging psychospiritually, as well as psychosocially. When we are aligned with the energy of God's love, we reflect this light to dispel the darkness.We can then see life as a mystery to be embraced and not a problem to be solved. We become co creators in our lives to access our divine purpose.
13 - Why the more we become developed, the lessons become arduous too?
There is a saying…The brighter the light the darker the shadow.As we get closer to the source..to the light..the shadow also becomes clear. When thestages of spiritual growth and development are completed, the ego and soul are aligned. Each time we go through a workshop, we are building what I call spiritual muscle. It is like lifting weights.Each time we practice lifting we are able to hold the weight up longerSo it is with our spirituality.The more we can develop our own spiritual intelligence, the longer we can hold up our spiritual state when we confront fear.
Spiritual IntelligenceÒ refers to the skills, abilities, and behaviors we need to help us balance the expansive love that flows through our hearts and all of creation with the need for discipline and responsibility. One way of defining spiritual intelligence is offered by as a devotion to discovering, exploring, and living in accordance with the depth dimensions of existence that are ways of being that transcend our usual ways, defenses, identity, and beliefs about self and world. When we successfully balance these polarities in our own feelings and in how we treat others and the world, we are able to create forgiveness, healing and connection; we in fact are co-creating with God . Spiritual Intelligence refers to the skills, abilities, and behaviors required to develop and maintain a relationship to the “Ultimate Source of All Being.”When we access this intelligence we can succeed in the search for meaning in life, find a moral and ethical path to help guide us through life, and act out our sense of meaning and values.
14 - What is the better way to hear the voices of our own soul, unless hearing parents’critiques? How get rid of this old beliefs?
Psychodrama is effective because it emphasizes engagement through active role play and dramatic dialogue as the major factors which lead to transformational change.If the future of mankind can be ‘planned,’ then conscious evolution through training of spontaneity opens a new vista for the development of the human race (Moreno, 2000). Psychodrama is the tool that Moreno developed as a method to facilitate this transformation.Psychodrama is experiential, as deeply held perceptions, patterns, and beliefs are expressed, bringing the unconscious into consciousness.
In psychodrama we represent externally our internal psyche. We are able to experience physically what has been only experienced psychologically. This allows objective observation and completion of unresolved conflicts through re-experiencing them with a corrective reframe.We begin to see our parents as our spiritual teachers and finally can let go of the resentment and anger that we did not get “what we thought we wanted”.
Experiences patterned by our ego are not experienced directly or purely.Our perceptions have many veils and patterns to them and our actions and choices are conditioned by our history.By understanding our actions and feelings -- by recognizing what is truly underlying a given situation -- we begin to appreciate the nature of these obstructions and how they developed. When the ego dissolves we can then have mystical experiences.By connecting to the positive loving energy of the soul, a healing of the past can occur without chronically re-experiencing intense feelings of pain and negativity to which we have become addicted.
15 - How important the guardian angels are for our life? How can we come near them? Moments of love-they are already here by being in the present we can hear themessages that come from each other.
SouldramaÒ continues on to be an experiential process that journeys through the veils of the angelic realm. A quasi-mythic or fantasy realm becomes a “surplus reality” setting for using imagination to symbolically address more personal issues.Protagonists are led through six stages or “veils” through a process of guided meditation and action methods into the “realm of angels” each which represents a different aspect of spiritual development.Now we are using light messengers as well as angels, each messenger bearing a special gift to move the client past the resistance in their livesMoreno called spontaneity and creativity the "godhead" in classical psychodrama.He stated that each person has a god-within that can be drawn on as a guide for a creative life and healing force. Spontaneity is the catalyst that warms us up to our creativity.Additionally, Moreno suggested that God acts within the creativity of each individual person.Such creativity and spontaneity is believed to be a connection with God as an expression of transpersonal identification.Rather than being a moralistic God, Moreno (proposed that God encourages aesthetic values which highlight pleasure in creativity, discovery, and celebration of life in the here and now. Therefore God does not act in the role of a judge, but is instead one who invites caring, compassion, and the achievement of our full potential (Moreno, 1972), while we become co-creators It is when we are in the present that we can hear the quiet voice of the soul. JL Moreno felt that weco create our lives and that we all have the potential to be Godlike and that spontaneity and creativity are those qualities that can stream us into our Godlike natures. One recognizes in this the honoring and the power of the present moment.
Toward the end of his first published book, Who Shall Survive?Jacob L. Moreno (1889-1974) described his hope for humanity -- the transformation of human consciousness through the integration of creative play, spontaneity, and psychological theory.Moreno's methodology is a growth model emphasizing individual responsibility and the creating of one's destiny. He urges the need for creativity and imagery within the therapeutic process so humans can see themselves as co-creators and not victims of omnipotent strength.When God is seen as being inside and not outside of oneself a greater sense of co-creative responsibility exists.SouldramaÒ helps one to define their relationship to a higher power and thus to themselves as one that is all loving-not based on the internalized image of their parents or outside authoritarian figures.
When you have faith, you have joy and you move forward.We learn to heed the voice of spirit that is quiet and non-demanding as opposed to the voice of fear that is loud and threatening.We learn that it is not the material world that causes things to happen but our awareness of our divine inner reality.When we are in tune with the voice of spirit, with intuition and creativity, we realize that we are always the creators of our own lives because we come from a center of higher awareness.Our work needs to become our higher purpose, our ministry performed from love, joy and spontaneity.We need to learn that the receiving comes from our “being” which later becomes manifest in our “doing”, which is our work or our higher purpose.We need to understand that we do not need to “do” anything in order to be.
Psychotherapy helps people explore emotions, which may be hindering one's ability to achieve intimacy.Souldrama®can help remove these blocks.Once these obstructed and/or distorted ego defenses are removed, we are free to explore our relationship to the divine.It is easy to see how the nature of the defenses, attachments and identifications which developed in response to childhood conditions become integrated into the self.Once integrated, the parts of the self which previously split off, mature into the authentic self -- a synthesis of both the spiritual and worldly.The self can now operate, not from conditioned patterns of behavior, but with qualities such as compassion, integrity and harmony.
When I we talk about our moments of love, I talk about when we felt the most loved and connected as a child. Maslow reported that peak experiences are the key to spiritual realms. They are when we are completely and totally absorbed in the worldHere we get glimpses of our soul or spirit. These are moments of being and not doing. Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition. Souldrama uses these moments of love and transforms them into our higher purpose.
When you have faith, you have joy and you move forward.We learn to heed the voice of spirit that is quiet and non-demanding as opposed to the voice of fear that is loud and threatening.We learn that it is not the material world that causes things to happen but our awareness of our divine inner reality.When we are in tune with the voice of spirit, with intuition and creativity, we realize that we are always the creators of our own lives because we come from a center of higher awareness.Our work needs to become our higher purpose, our ministry performed from love, joy and spontaneity.We need to learn that the receiving comes from our “being” which later becomes manifest in our “doing”, which is our work or our higher purpose.We need to understand that we do not need to “do” anything in order to be.
16 - How can we discover our “mission of life”?
Our life purpose reflects:What we naturally do best in life - the gifts, talents and skills our personality has to offer the world. How we aspire to bein life - the qualities of our authentic self. Knowing our life purpose and fully living it brings much meaning and fulfillment into our lives. When we consciously align with our deepest reasons for being, we tap into rich reserves of energy, personal power and passion.
Souldrama may be compared to a pilgrimage allowing one to “cross the threshold” of any change in life with conscious awareness of what we leave behind and provides a structure and guide to facilitate entering the unknown, or what lies ahead. The common elements in a pilgrimage, are to (1) accept the call to journey for a specific purpose; (2) find the faith in one’s vision needed to set out; (3) to learn how to invoke the strength of spirit; (4) learn how to allow the spirit to speak and work through you in order to persist; (5) gain control over the obstacles, the spirit shadows whose intentions are to slow you down or to stop you; (6) to perform the appropriate rituals, enact the mythology, and connect with the transcendent self, upon arrival at the destination of the pilgrimage; and (7) to return to one’s home community, bringing back the blessings obtained.
Few of us clearly know our life purpose.But if we watch how our lives unfold, and if we know what questions to ask ourselves, we can begin to understand why we are here.More importantly we can begin to discover us what is stopping us from changing.
By bridging the gap within ourselves first, between our rational, emotional, and spiritual intelligences we can hear the quiet voice of the soul directing us to be on our true purpose. We are beginning to useSouldrama as a daily Spiritual Ritual and this stage is still in its development.
I have never met Connie Miller in person but when I talk with her over the phone or through email it feels like we’ve been friends for some time. Such is the gift one receives when they have found their calling. You can just feel the energy emanating from her work, and I suspect this a major reason behind her success. At present, Connie travels all over the world delivering workshops and retreats. I asked her if she would share some of the reasons behind her success, and she was surprised by my request. I believe one of the reasons why she was surprised is that her attempts to grow her business are never calculated. She is not focused on a future outcome or end game. Connie moves with purpose, content in trusting her intuition and confident in knowing that her journey is what matters. And because she operates from within this model she has been able to achieve incredible results.
What follows is her written response to me as I asked her what has made her so successful in her work.
In my mind, there is no substitute for genuineness.
As I sit here in Greece waiting to begin a workshop I thought I would take a minute and answer your question. You asked me what made me successful in my practice? The question surprised me, as I never thought of myself as being a success. In actuality I have been so busy pursuing my passion of teaching and presenting workshops for personal development in the new group process of Souldrama® that I never even stopped to give it a thought. Maybe this is what happens when one is in a state of being and not doing.
Here are a few principles I live by that have served me well both personally and professionally.
Believe In What You Are Doing:
First and foremost, I believe it is important to believe in what you are doing. If we find ourselves bored and burned out, then perhaps it is a time to challenge ourselves to move on to something more rewarding. After running the Center for Codependency for 20 years, I found that my clients were “stuck” either in careers or relationships. This inspired me to find another way and to develop Souldrama, a process that integrates psychology and spirituality. When I found how this moved my clients, it inspired me to keep on learning and growing. I did this by completing my TEP ( Trainer, Educator and Practitioner) in psychodrama, group psychotherapy and sociometry. This took another 10 years after my masters degree. During this training I needed to resolve any old issues that were keeping me “stuck”.
Do Not Define Yourself By Labels:
Don’t compare yourself. This sounds like “I am good”, “I am bad “ etc. The ego would love to hear me define myself as a success for then I could get busy comparing and judging myself to others that I think are successful. Success comes from the inside and not by things or circumstances outside of ourselves.
Be Willing To Take A Risk ….No More Excuses:
If cognitive intelligence is about thinking and emotionalintelligence is about feeling, then spiritual intelligenceis about being. In a holistic view of life, we are creatures with a mind, a body,and a spirit—all interconnected and arranged in a patternthat means that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.My ability to understand this for myself has given me the courage to take needed risks. The integration of these intelligences has given me the opportunity to meet people from other cultures and to share my calling.
Recreate Yourself:
Today we look for the purpose of our individual and collective experience as we have created it and search again for the meaning of life. We must take a page from within our therapist tool-box and look for ways to recreate ourselves. I believe our creativity holds the key to our life dream, purpose, or calling. I, like many others, have placed many obstacles between my creative gifts and myself. Creativity, for me, is critical to success in that it is the ability to manifest what has real meaning and purpose for you. When creativity is shut down in childhood in order to stay safe, we remain in jobs and relationships that we have outgrown, that no longer serve us. When we learn to listen to the inner voice of our own spirit as opposed to the internalized critical voice, we are able to follow the voice that leads us toward fulfilled, creative lives. That voice is difficult to hear if you are struggling with learned beliefs, trying to control the outcome of situations and enmeshed in expectations of the way things “should” turn out.
If you would like to contact Connie or learn more about the work she is doing visit her at www.souldrama.com
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