Author: xbzg
Hegel’s Master/Slave Dialectic: collective healing in our complex world
in HumanisticHegel proposed the Master/Slave thought experiment to understand human’s need for self-consciousness through the genuine recognition of (and by) others. Hegel argues that self-consciousness is not just being alive or thinking, but about knowing yourself as a subject. Unlike Descartes, for whom thinking alone proves existence (‘I think, therefore I am’), Hegel argues that existence…
Are we ever free? The experience of fear and the embracing of responsibility in our work towards freedom
Freedom is complex. Are we ever free? Do we want to actually be? And how do we even know we are? This article explores how true freedom is not about escaping fear and responsibility, but about embracing them The struggle to be free is the struggle to exist. We’re driven to free ourselves from our…
Overview of Internal Family Systems
in IFSInternal Family Systems (IFS) is a therapeutic approach founded and developed by Richard Schwartz based upon a mix of influences from humanistic and psychodynamic counselling, family system therapy, systems thinking and spirituality. The below is based on No Bad Parts and Internal Family Systems Therapy. —- The main premise of Internal Family Systems is that…
How School-Based Counselling Helps
I worked with Mick Cooper to design a poster to promote his latest piece of research. It shows the ways in which school based humanistic counselling helps young people. I found interesting that “advice” was an important process of change – if you read the paper you will also find out what aspects of the…
Having vs being as modes of existence
in HumanisticErich Fromm was a humanist philosopher and psychoanalyst associated with critical theory. He blended the analysis of social and psychological factors to explore different philosophies of living. In To Have or To Be?, he examines two broad perspectives on life. — He explored how spiritual and cultural traditions have intertwined with structures of power to…
Life is a gift, and then we die
in JournalI was walking up the stairs when I started hearing my child scream. Initially, I thought it was a cat in agony. But as I walked through the door I saw her, turning around in the floor contorting with the pain while my ex negotiates with an ambulance. I grabbed my child while I waited…
Climbing someone else’s success stairs
in JournalI have been doing lots of things in the last six months since I moved back in Brighton. I decided to become a counsellor and started my studies. I decided to learn design properly and have been building a portfolio with design work in mental health. I have been working enough (in marketing) to make…
My interview with UEL and being a weed
in JournalI have been busy the last six months. Training to become a counsellor, learning design, making money, thinking how to make more, being a parent, looking after myself and continuing my path of self-development. It’s been a good busy. Part of the hard work has been about getting myself in a position where I can…
The burden of having to be amazing
in JournalI have a big burden – I have to be amazing. This sucks, because I am not amazing. Certainly not most of the time. Who the f**** is? I grew up as a gifted child – diagnosed at 6 – in a narcissistic family. Imagine that. I don’t think it was very different for my…
Games people play: A classified list of Eric Berne’s games in Transactional Analysis
This article brings together two frameworks from Transactional Analysis: “Games” from Eric Berne (Games people play) and “The Drama Triangle” from Stephen Karpman. – Our thoughts and behaviours are often guided by unconscious scripts we’re following – whether it takes us a minute to realise, or years. Uncovering those scripts – and in the process…
