Watching Your Mind for Thoughts That Block Healing

by Robert Perry

The following questions are designed to help you identify any unhelpful, unloving content that is in your mind during a therapy session.

  1. Were you noticing the patient’s physical appearance, and your reactions to it?
  2. Were you noticing the patient’s personality and your like or dislike of it?
  3. Were you hoping the patient would like you?
  4. Were you afraid of how the patient would receive your counsel?
  5. Were you afraid that you would give the patient a chunk of golden wisdom that he would fail to really receive, appreciate and use?
  6. Were you feeling any fear about what choices the patient would make, about whether or not he would choose healing?
  7. Did you feel an impatience with the patient, a worry that she would not heal fast enough?
  8. Were you hoping that the patient would think you are a really good healer?
  9. Was your main goal the healing of the patient, or something for yourself—some reward, recognition, acknowledgment, gratitude, or avoidance of failure and embarrassment?
  10. Did you want to help this person because she seemed like such an awful mess that someone needed to fix her up, and quick?
  11. Were you uncomfortable with the patient’s current unhealthy state?
  12. Did you feel an urge to tell the patient the truth quickly, so that he could be well right away?
  13. Did you notice any sense of recoil from the patient’s lack of mental health?
  14. Did you notice any sense of disapproval for the patient’s choices?
  15. Were you aware of judgment toward the patient? Of turning up your nose at the patient?
  16. Were you comparing yourself with the patient, and seeing yourself as being on a higher plane?
  17. Did you regard the patient as your equal?
  18. Did you see yourself as the possessor of special gifts and wisdom that the patient lacks?
  19. Did you feel that the patient was either too unworthy or too dangerous to join with?
  20. Did you find yourself withdrawing from the patient, mentally and emotionally?
  21. Were you trying to gauge just how much of your love you ought to give this patient? What was your conclusion? On a scale of one to ten, how much love did you decide to give this person?
  22. Did you feel the pressure of having to think up the perfect thing to say, the pressure of needing to figure out what would heal the patient?
  23. Did you have a fear of failure?
  24. Did you feel a sense of weakness and inadequacy as a healer? A guilty embarrassment about not being a good enough healer?
  25. Were you engaging in some form of “concern with the self to the exclusion of the patient” (M-7.6:1)?
  26. Did fantasies of wild success cross your mind, and, if so, was their main pleasure in affirming what a special healer you are?

 

[Please note: ACIM passages quoted in this article reference the Foundation for Inner Peace (FIP) Edition.]