Goal of Life Therapy: A Process

The goal of Life Therapy is to engage in the therapeutic process.Therapy is the process of attending to, serving, and taking care of. It’s not healing; it facilitates healing.

Healing is the natural process of becoming an integrated whole. It happens with and without therapy. 

Physical Therapy is the process of attending to, serving, and taking care of your physical body. Psychotherapy is the process of attending to, serving, and taking care of your psyche, your mind. Life Therapy is the process of attending to, serving, and taking care of your life.

As Physical Therapy nurtures physical integrity, and psychotherapy nurtures psychological integrity, Life Therapy nurtures the integrity of your life. 

Unfortunately, religiosity has restricted the meaning of integrity to moral integrity. Moral integrity is about complying with an externally imposed moral code. It’s about living up to someone else’s expectations.

In therapy, integrity means “sound, whole, complete.” Integrity in physical therapy is about the wholeness of your body. In psychotherapy, it’s about the soundness of your mind. In Life Therapy, integrity is about the soundness, wholeness, and completeness of your life.

A life of integrity is an integrated life. It’s when your heart, hands, homies, and head harmonize as a whole.

“Heart” refers to your spirit, that which makes you alive. “Hands” refers to your body and what you do. “Homies” refers to your relationships and social groups. “Head,” intentionally listed last, refers to your mind, your mental processes.

When your spiritbodymind and relations harmonize, your life is integrated. You are integrated, whole, and healthy.

Change is the essence of life. As your life is ever-changing, so is your life’s integrity/ wholeness/health. It’s fluid. It’s more or less healthy. 

As you attend to, serve, and take care of your life, your life naturally becomes sound, whole, and complete.

What is Therapy in Life Therapy? Part 1

In Life Therapy, therapy does not mean treatment. I don’t give treatments. Let me explain.

Therapy-as-Treatment

Some therapists give you treatments: physical therapists, respiratory therapists, radiation therapists, etc. They treat specific physical symptoms. So, do physicians and nurses. They treat your symptoms with medications and surgeries. 

Therapists who give treatments are licensed experts with special knowledge and training you don’t have. They’re expensive.

Treatments as Orders to Follow

Treatments must first be ordered by your physician and pre-approved by your health insurance company. Then you schedule an appointment.

You arrive at the time of your appointment, sign in, pay, fill out forms, and wait until your name is called. Then you go to the treatment room and passively receive the treatment. 

You are not in control. The therapist tells you what to do during the treatment. You comply and follow directions.

Sometimes treatments help you. Sometimes they don’t.

Treatment protocols are based on tests that determine what works for most people. When you don’t fit in the box of “most people,” the problem is the treatment, not you.