Category: Therapy

Therapy

Going private pay, politics, pickling and other reflections

by Anthony Rella
by Monika Grabkowska

A longer reflection on changes I’m making in my practice, the most significant of which is leaving insurance panels and going out of pocket only.

“Earlier this summer, during some spiritual work, I got the message: “Sacrifice your ego on the altar of abundance.” Initially I mistrusted these words as evocative of the kind of materialistic manifestation culture that is so prevalent on social media. And it truly has been a sacrifice of ego to acknowledge my needs and boundaries, but instead it’s my ego story of being the self-sacrificing martyr who works hard and needs little in return.”

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Spirituality

The serpents of our lesser nature.

by Anthony Rella

“The serpent is thus venomous and medicinal. It kills and it heals. On its belly, it crawls on the surface of the earth engaged in the survival necessary for all animals with cunning and wisdom. Put on a pole and lifted up, it becomes a medicine, as in the staff of Asclepius. This is a common religious practice that shows up in all kinds of traditions: the figure who causes suffering turned into the protector against, and healer of, that suffering. Who better”

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Spirituality

An Inventory of Dead and Living Language

by Anthony Rella

“Lately I have been taking inventory of my beliefs, my ideals, and my guiding philosophies. One focus of reflection is language that once felt vital and inspiring but now feels dead, or at least murky. Words like “health,” “liberation,” and “manifestation,” once felt so vibrant. After years of repetition, mission creep, and marketing campaigns, I no longer know what they mean to me.

All of these leaves grow from a living tree, and my hope is to find the vitality at the source of the tree. At times I doubt there is a tree at all. At other times, I feel the tree with such vitality and urgency that it sends me back out into the world fighting and laughing. But I can confuse the leaves with the tree, which becomes problematic when the leaves grow dry. Are they shriveled dry leaves ready to be shed, or are they simply needing more light and water to be renewed?”

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Therapy

The Smartest Guy in the Room

by Anthony Rella

“There’s a wisdom in contrarianism. Contrarians are good tests of tolerance and safety in a group. Often contrarians grew up in places where dissent was punished or harmful certitudes put forward without question. When they experience a space where they feel there is too much harmony and agreement, it’s almost instinctive. They have to test it. “You can’t really be as enlightened as you pretend to be.” “There’s always a flaw in the argument.”

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