What’s the biggest difference between…

... alleviating your immediate emotional pain, anxiety, or relationship angst ASAP with an emergency therapy session, talk with friends, or a new significant other;

and...

... creating lasting freedom from the core emotional wounds and patterns that largely created the current pain, anxiety, or relationship stress in the first place.

Effective psychotherapy is personalized to fit your emotional history and the way of life you choose for yourself.

Many forms of traditional psychotherapy seek to help you obtain psychological health. But who determines what it is to be psychologically healthy? And perhaps something that is healthy for one personality and lifestyle may not be healthy for another.

Much of psychotherapy has become formulaic. The therapist diagnoses a disorder and then begins the indicated treatment for that disorder. Therapists are trained when they hear this, they say that. It has all become rather intellectual and clinical.

But human beings are complex. They don't fit into neat little boxes that are healed by set interventions. They have varying personalities and unique histories. The lifestyle humans choose for themselves further complicates their psychological healing.

Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy begins by listening. Michael Hoffman listens to the client's unique journey and the life they want for themselves. We work together to create an intuitive approach that is effective for your specific situation.

So rather than you fitting into the therapy, the therapy is fitting you. You choose your life and what you want and we navigate a personal program that is effective for you. I offer my experience and expertise to ensure the program will be effective.

So, it's a program that you helped design. It makes sense to you. You are into it and begin to build momentum and hope. You are invested in your journey of healing, which is perfect for you.

First Pillar: Choice

The basis of Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy is choosing something you want to create or experience. This is fundamentally different than traditional psychotherapy which is based on helping people find psychological health.

Of course, psychological health and natural laws of the human experience are accessed in Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy. However, this form of psychological health is based upon you and your choice and intention for what you want to experience.

Once you clarify your values, choices, and intentions, then we can find health and balance in your specific life. This becomes your personal journey that is perfect for you. I will guide you to find a healthy and balanced version of your personal journey.

Second Pillar: Investment in Yourself

Once you choose something you want to experience in life, it quickly becomes evident that there may be significant barriers to creating it. This is typically due to conditioning that gets in the way of what you want to create.

This cultural conditioning was likely introduced to you by your family, teachers, friends, television, and the internet. Since you have been exposed to it for most of your life, it constructs your reality and directly informs what you believe is possible.

Accordingly, deconstructing this conditioning requires determination. You have to swim upstream from what feels natural and be willing to leave your comfort zone. Your mind may tell you that what you want to create is simply not possible.

This is where determination comes in. You have to want it. You have to be willing to risk trying things not embraced by your conditioning. You may fail or become discouraged. You have to brush yourself off and go after it again. You are determined.

Third Pillar: Trust

Not much of the construction and excavation described in the previous section can happen until you establish trust. It requires that you build trust with two people- your therapist and yourself.

You need to trust that your therapist has the expertise and experience to guide you to create the things you want to experience in your life.

You also have to trust that if you let go of your defense mechanisms and old ways of staying safe, your therapist will be there for you. If you fall apart, your therapist will be there to put you back together. Then you can truly let go.

Trusting yourself is the internal version of this. It is learning to trust your survivability. It's trusting that whatever life throws at you, you'll be able to survive it and endure it. And eventually, you'll learn to trust that you'll be able to thrive with it.

Once you trust yourself, you can try new things. You are free. You are free to venture into the unknown. And that's where you typically find the things that you truly want for yourself.

Fourth Pillar: Personal Freedom

Freedom is the ultimate litmus test. If what you are and unlocking and unfolding creates freedom, you're likely on the right track. It's personal in that it creates the freedom to be you.

Psychotherapy should create freedom. If it's not, something is not right, something's off. It may be time to try a different approach, a different therapist, or a different form of therapy.

Perhaps it's time to try Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy. If you think that may be the case, I'd love to talk about it with you in a free consultation.

Mastery #1: Understand What's Important to You Now

So here's the thing. What's important to you changes as you mature. Therefore, updating this by determining what's important to you in your life now is essential. This creates a solid foundation for your psychotherapy journey.

Here are the broad strokes of the first area of mastery:

• Notice What You Value. What do you seem to prioritize in your life? What do you show up for? What are you saying to yourself that you prioritize yet never find the time for? Don't get into self-judgement. You're just noticing and learning about what your behavior suggests that you seem to value. 
• Notice What You Are Drawn to. Also, notice what you are not drawn to. Here you're observing how you feel about the things in your life. What things in your life do you look forward to? What dreams and plans do you get excited about? And what are you bored with? What do you dread?
• Discover Your Unique Life Path. Effective psychotherapy needs to be intuitively tailored to your unique spiritual and human signature. We work together with self-inquiry and intuitive listening to disclose the ideal psychotherapy approach for your personal path.
• Determine What’s Most Important to You. Effective and lasting change begins by understanding what you truly value. This changes as your life moves through different phases. It provides an orientation for your life and allows you to align your life with what matters most to you. 

Mastery #2: Consciously Choose the Life You Want for Yourself

Here is where things get fun - real fun :)

You’ve embraced your spiritual path and removed the obstacles, so now you can take things to a whole new level by partnering with life by offering a clear intention to activate your new life.

Here’s what you’ll soon be activating:

• Consider the things you'd like to have in your life. Is it a relationship, a community of supportive friends? Do you want a new livelihood, business, or project? Do you want to create art or play a musical instrument? What are the internal aspects of yourself you want to awaken?
• Create a Clear Intention. When you offer your intention, it initiates and activates a new way of being. We work together to identify some things you would like to awaken in your life. We work with things and boil them down to create a clear intention for your life.
• Offer your Intention. Offering your intention is the moment of commitment to awakening the new element in your life. Offering your intention in a ceremony helps you envision your intention as a rite of passage to a new life that includes the new element you are awakening. 
• Recognize the Doorways that Open. When you offer an intention, Life presents doorways for you to actualize that intention. Doorways include relationships, opportunities, and connections. Our sessions help you recognize the doorways that open and find the courage to step into them. 

Mastery #3: Become Aware of your Core Emotional Wounds, Limiting Beliefs, Fears, and Behavioral Patterns

Awesome!

You’ve set your foundation! You’re on a roll! This third area of mastery is perhaps the most challenging and most powerful one of the bunch. The personal freedom and empowerment it creates are easily worth the price of the sessions.

It requires rigorous honesty (with yourself), which starts with the willingness to look at your life exactly as it is. Once you see yourself clearly and objectively, the rest of your transition is inevitable.

I will start the ball rolling by asking some questions and gently pointing some things out. You will participate in the investigation looking at the things that have been holding you back. Challenging yes, but you can do this. We’re in it together!

Here are some of the things we will look at:

• Become Aware of Your Core Emotional Issues. There may be a psychological journey that leads down to these core issues. Perhaps you have an idea of what they are from past work. What you get triggered or activated with at work or in your relationships may point the way to your core issues.
• Become Conscious of Your Limiting Beliefs. We pick up core beliefs about ourselves and the world in childhood. They are reinforced and embellished as adults.  They often limit us without us even realizing it. We'll explore the beliefs or stories you tell yourself that may be obstructing you.
• Disempower your Fear. Fear naturally arises as you get close to what you want most. Since fear is future-based, you can break each fear down to an if/then statement about what you believe will happen. This format clarifies how fear limits your life and puts it into terms that are manageable.
• Become Aware of Your Behavioral Patterns. These repetitive patterns rob you of your ability to choose what you want in your life because you do them over and over without realizing it. Becoming conscious of them provides the opportunity to choose something different.

Mastery #4: Create a Personal Program

By this point, you have built a huge amount of self-awareness and intention. But it is also essential to create a personal program that will allow to you integrate your new spiritual element into your everyday life.

Many succumb to their resistance and stop here. This is where all the potentiality becomes real. It is where your spiritual nature takes form in your actual life.

While it's natural to feel uneasy being in new territory, let this be the grand adventure that it is. This is what you have been preparing for...

• Create your Personal Program. Together, we will design a personalized program that provides a new orientation for your life. This program will keep you attuned to your heart, intuition, and internal resources. It will replace the externally based orientation you were conditioned to rely upon.  
• Establish a Personal Practice. A spiritual practice allows you to experience the sensation and feeling of your spiritual nature on a regular basis to provide orientation for your life. Spiritual practices include things you naturally enjoy such as yoga, meditation, journaling, music, and walking in nature.
• Practice Noticing and Reconnecting. This allows you to stay aligned with your new element as you awaken it. Noticing is objectively observing when you are aligned with your spiritual nature, and when you are not. Reconnecting detaches you from what is distracting you and realigns you with your spiritual nature.
• Feel your way through it. Notice what works and what doesn't. Your best guide is to notice whether the things you try lead you to feel close or distant. Do they create connection or separation? And adjust. Repeat those that create connection and discard those that create separation.

So if you’re still here...

Let me send you off with this.

By now, you already know that the biggest difference between enjoying spiritual well-being of throughout your relationships, work, and life…

... and experiencing your spiritual well-being in yoga, meditation, and out in nature and then feeling the utter frustration of feeling disconnected in relationships, unfulfilled at work, and disheartened in everyday life all comes down to...

... integrating your spiritual well-being into your everyday life.

If you want to experience the well-being of your spiritual nature as all-pervasive happiness in your everyday life, you need Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy.

If you want to experience the boundless connection of your spiritual nature as loving intimacy in your significant other relationship, you need Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy.

If you want to experience the true purpose of your spiritual nature as lasting fulfillment in your life-work, you need Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy.

If you want to experience the unbridled aliveness of your spiritual nature as life-affirming vitality and passion throughout your life, you need Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy.

If you want to experience the inherent belongingness of your spiritual nature as feeling part of a supportive community and all of life, you need Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy.

and...

If you want to experience the undeniable intuition of your spiritual nature as the ability to deeply trust yourself, you need Natural Way of Being Psychotherapy.

If you’re ready, I look forward to partnering with you to make the astonishingly beautiful spiritual qualities that you’ve experienced an everyday reality that you can embody and enjoy in all the various aspects of your life.