In the field of "men's work", i.e., "transformational," "emotional clarity," or "inner work," many insights have been gained over the past few decades. Since the study of the dilemmas facing the contemporary male and the various therapies developed to treat those issues pushed their way into the world's consciousness sometime in the 1970s , the work as a whole has evolved significantly.
Of course "men's work," in one form or another, could at least be traced back to Freud, or even back to the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Persians, Jesus, et al. Some general themes have arisen, however, in several of the different contemporary approaches that tackle the tricky issue of gaining access to and "processing" the modern male's inner emotional world, with the goal of helping men emerge with more clarity and serenity in their lives.
One of the most common therapeutic approaches is to coax or teach men how to actually feel their emotions, with the pre-supposition being that most men are not comfortable experiencing feelings. One obvious conclusion is that men either suppress, deny, or "numb-out" to avoid their feelings.
The most recognizable manner in which men avoid feelings, as revealed in several branches of men's work, is done via an addiction, e.g., to alcohol, gambling, sex, work, excitement, stress, or any other activity that steers men away from what they are experiencing internally. Another "feeling-avoidance" strategy is for men to reside excessively in their minds, thus cutting them off from their emotional world. This is a particularly common motif for men who are taught from childhood forward to chiefly employ Reason and logic, and to shy away from exploring emotional avenues in the experience of navigating their lives.
For many men, the foray into their inner life can be fraught with great resistance and fear, not due solely to the traditional male acculturation as the "strong silent type" (or other mode of stoicism), but because many men sense a great deal of turmoil, pain, or grief awaits them if they allow long-suppressed emotions to be experienced. This is particularly the case if painful, possibly "re-wounding" emotions such as anger, fear, grief, and sadness are to be looked at and touched (and, if successfully treated, "released").
Often the most common techniques for those willing to brave this journey is to guide men to "drop down out of their heads" and inhabit their "emotional body" as fully as possible, and ultimately learn to remain rooted there. The emphasis is on teaching men to become comfortable with whatever feelings may reside within (while not allowing the emotion to overwhelm them), while learning to stave off the familiar strategies of avoiding feeling such as fleeing back "up" into their heads, to what can be a world of relentless and often negative thinking.
There are parallels to this approach to be found in Buddhism and other disciplines, of course (including the strains of Christianity that don't consider the instincts of the body to be avoided and/or sinful), but this particular approach to modern men's work places a strong emphasis on showing men how to identify, access, trust, and "process" feelings, and to remain in the "present moment" as regularly as possible.
The goal is to remove what can often be a life-long, often debilitating accretion of negative emotions that remain largely unconscious to most men, and often causes men to "act out" from a base of long-ignored fear, anger, or unresolved grief, which can often block true joy and self-knowledge.
Of course "men's work," in one form or another, could at least be traced back to Freud, or even back to the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Persians, Jesus, et al. Some general themes have arisen, however, in several of the different contemporary approaches that tackle the tricky issue of gaining access to and "processing" the modern male's inner emotional world, with the goal of helping men emerge with more clarity and serenity in their lives.
One of the most common therapeutic approaches is to coax or teach men how to actually feel their emotions, with the pre-supposition being that most men are not comfortable experiencing feelings. One obvious conclusion is that men either suppress, deny, or "numb-out" to avoid their feelings.
The most recognizable manner in which men avoid feelings, as revealed in several branches of men's work, is done via an addiction, e.g., to alcohol, gambling, sex, work, excitement, stress, or any other activity that steers men away from what they are experiencing internally. Another "feeling-avoidance" strategy is for men to reside excessively in their minds, thus cutting them off from their emotional world. This is a particularly common motif for men who are taught from childhood forward to chiefly employ Reason and logic, and to shy away from exploring emotional avenues in the experience of navigating their lives.
For many men, the foray into their inner life can be fraught with great resistance and fear, not due solely to the traditional male acculturation as the "strong silent type" (or other mode of stoicism), but because many men sense a great deal of turmoil, pain, or grief awaits them if they allow long-suppressed emotions to be experienced. This is particularly the case if painful, possibly "re-wounding" emotions such as anger, fear, grief, and sadness are to be looked at and touched (and, if successfully treated, "released").
Often the most common techniques for those willing to brave this journey is to guide men to "drop down out of their heads" and inhabit their "emotional body" as fully as possible, and ultimately learn to remain rooted there. The emphasis is on teaching men to become comfortable with whatever feelings may reside within (while not allowing the emotion to overwhelm them), while learning to stave off the familiar strategies of avoiding feeling such as fleeing back "up" into their heads, to what can be a world of relentless and often negative thinking.
There are parallels to this approach to be found in Buddhism and other disciplines, of course (including the strains of Christianity that don't consider the instincts of the body to be avoided and/or sinful), but this particular approach to modern men's work places a strong emphasis on showing men how to identify, access, trust, and "process" feelings, and to remain in the "present moment" as regularly as possible.
The goal is to remove what can often be a life-long, often debilitating accretion of negative emotions that remain largely unconscious to most men, and often causes men to "act out" from a base of long-ignored fear, anger, or unresolved grief, which can often block true joy and self-knowledge.
No comments:
Post a Comment