Western Practitioner: Integrating Falun Dafa's Principles with My Work as a Behavioral Therapist

(Clearwisdom.net) As a behavioral therapist within business health care, I work both with individuals and with groups. I call my individual sessions stress management, discussion therapy and mentor coaching, with a focus on human relationships. This entails identifying and pinpointing people's thoughts and pattern of feelings, and the goal is to bring about personal awareness and strengthen the individual.

My work within management groups usually calls for help in improving communication and cooperation between people. This often runs parallel with ongoing arguments surrounding the economy or technical aspects that concern the company. Where groups or organizations are concerned, my work among, other things, involves educating people within the areas of communication and handling conflicts, the psycho-social work environment, mental training, team development and stress management.

As I work both within the private and public sector, both on the workfloor and within management, I meet people from all walks of life. It strikes me again and again how people long for Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance in their lives. I also realize how very complicated and messy our existence has become, and this is showing itself in the ever worsening psyco-social health of the people.

In this fast growing and tough business world, where profit is paramount, there is a tendency for human values to be diluted. Respect, honesty, trust, and tolerance are so often empty words that are neither acted upon nor delivered. Many businesses show a caring facade, describing its staff as being its most important resource. But when I go behind this facade I find only fear, insecurity, misery, jealousy and a lack of decent values.

Employees know if they are the company's most important resource or not. When they feel that they are, the possibilities of problem solving, both personal and professional, are greater. When they do not feel that they are an important resource, staff feel downtrodden and scared. This contributes to a downward spiral that is of no advantage to either the staff or the business. I am often called upon when there is a problem or crisis, either for individuals or a group. I see a human crisis. Good, proper values are being forgotten, people are being treated more and more like machines, and they are becoming each others' enemies.

In the theories of psychology and behavioral science the western world uses, I can identify thoughts, feelings and acts that come either from a fear perspective or a trust perspective. From this I can see on a human level that much negative and destructive behavior comes out of fear, insecurity and lack of trust. Trust comes out of a belief in oneself and is linked to a belief in decent values.

With help from the wisdom and guidance that Fa principles show me in conjunction with my own cultivation (in which I strive to harmonize with Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance) I have important mental tools that I can use in my daily work.

When people and organizations work more actively with their own human abilities, their insight and conscience grows and it is wonderful to see how Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance can turn bad circles into good circles. When you trust in your own capacity for human goodness (and trust in other people's capacity for goodness) this generates positive feelings and actions within the environment, which leads to better communication and positive development instead of being stuck in a rut of fear, insecurity and forever looking for each others' wrongdoings. Fear and insecurity contribute to self-defence and accusations, which in its turn lead to deceit, fighting and destructiveness.

My work with business health care creates an arena for afterthought and reflection, in which the soul can be nourished and one can discover more of one's true self.

In groups we talk much about the importance of honesty, belief, tolerance, respect, trust. We take the time to go into these areas in depth, researching what these things mean in practice. People talk of their personal experiences and what it means to them in thoughts, words and deeds. When I include myself in these discussions I am as open and honest as possible in showing Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. This can encourage others to dare to be honest and to really work with their true selves. Parallel to this, they actively reflect over their thoughts, words and deeds, and instinctively look inwards.

It is great to see people discovering their true selves and finding strength in human values. When we grow and cultivate together, we become much more than just one person who is there for the moment. Our togetherness with our good thoughts are greater together than individually.

It's a wonderful experience when I can let go of my own ego, selfishness and fears and find that Falun Dafa's power is there to touch people's hearts. My work also includes much collaboration with doctors, nurses and physiotherapists, and even here I experience the power of the Fa's principles, as long as I am cultivating myself. When I have attachments linked to prestige or status I notice straight away the universal power of restraint. I am held back, and I experience disturbance and misunderstanding; but it's good that it comes to the surface so I can advance in my own cultivation.

Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance has become a very valuable thought process and method in my work as a behavioral therapist. I am very grateful for the wisdom I find in Falun Dafa's guidance. People without room for afterthought, reflection and recovery show many stress related symptoms. Their soul's need nourishment to find their way again. Fear, insecurity, and worry contribute to destructive forces that seek to find their way in. This destructiveness strengthens our self-defence mechanism, which prevents us from feeling pain and suffering. This contributes further until it blocks feelings, and human values also decline. Then thoughts, feelings and actions come out of fear, falsehood, jealousy, a need to control, competitiveness, rivalry and prestige, which contribute to the failure of human relationships. Conflict and destructive competitiveness results in our not using human resources in a good way.

I also see how my own cultivation affects the results of the work I do as a behavioral therapist. As long as I let go of my own selfishness, I can put forward the message of Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. When I do not manage so well with my own cultivation, I see it in daily work.

Its wonderful to be able to be a link that passes on the wisdom of this remarkable force that can be found in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. Sometimes I can see and feel how people's true selves awaken and receive nourishment and healing.

Thank you for your attention. I would be grateful for any reflections.