COUNSELING plain text

COUNSELING plain text

( and ) THERAPY MARCH 2016 - SHORT
Abbreviated version / Work Copy - Please READ HERE - updated soon...

“ The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD PROJECT ”
♦ Akasa-Maitreya Levi, DhMA ( D.Min )
Santa Monica CA 90405 - 310-450-2268
• Buddhist COUNSELING and Mindfulness THERAPY
-- a truly effective Buddhist-based 'Alternative' way...
complementary to contemporary psychotherapy
for the Discomforted Mind, Wounded Spirit or
Disheartened, Despairing Relationship ~
all in the midst of our very edgy,
over-driven, survival-stressed
Uncertain Times

 “ The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD PROJECT ”
Santa Monica CA 90405 - 310-450-2268

GETTING STARTED:
If you graze and scroll n' roll around in this site,
follow some of it along - besides the initial details,
there's a lot of solid good reading in here
to inspire and uplift you - so please just dig in,
drink deep and intelligently nourish your spirit.
_______________________________________

 “And then the day came
when the risk to remain tight in a bud
was more painful
than the risk it took to blossom” ~ Anais Nin
_____________________________________

Maybe you're a very UNCOMMON PERSON ....
"The 'Uncommon Person' Already Feels Different --
in a Very Non-Assimilate-able Way.
Many people really do, but for the truly 'uncommon one'
it's sort of a double-whammy to carry!"  ~ Abraham Maslow

UNHAPPY 'UNCOMMON' PEOPLE are sensitive, creative,
individualistic, savvy, higher-consciousness oriented people -
artistic, intellectual, mystical, musical, poetic or spiritual.
So you probably need a 'Non-traditional Therapist'
who understands “non-mainstream”, non-Matrix lifestyles --
and who is deeply empathic and genuinely understands
 ‘uncommon' and ‘unusual’ or ‘non-ordinary’ people -
who are quite unique or gifted, yet unhappy people.
• You may be a very 'individual' person who feels very naturally inward, spiritual oriented -
and yet you're struggling to get ‘worldly’ problems/emotional issues handled realistically
and with integrity as well -- yet without you having to commit to any spiritual path whatsoever.
We offer NO promises or religious dogma - we offer nothing to ‘believe’ in. Just the emergence
of your own individual ‘true knowing’ and personal excellence. We want to assist you in
discovering a 'natural unfolding' of unshakable balance, boundless wisdom and joy.
And your innate good humor - Liberating a new sense of caring and connectedness with
yourself, other people and the universe. An expanded inner acceptance and outer effectiveness.
 ‘True’ happiness totally independent of the unavoidable effects of ‘everyday’ circumstances and
conditions. Really 'true freedom' as they've spoken about in Asian teachings for millennia.
You may want to talk with someone - like me - someone who has training in both worlds: psychology AND spirituality.
At “Spiritual Adulthood” we offer a uniquely combined counseling -- an innovative, holistic,
Asian-based ‘spiritual variation' of therapy grounded in pragmatic, practical Buddhist psychology.
Created for intelligent people - sensitive people - creative people - odd, uncommon unhappy people…

" THE GREATEST RISK IS NOT TAKING ONE! "

This form of Counseling-Therapy can be called many things --
• Spiritual-based Counseling • Psycho/Spiritual Therapy
• Spiritual-oriented Life Coaching • It's been done effectively for 1000's of years ...
( This is not a traditional Western licensed clinical psychotherapy -- nor is it 'religious' --
it is 'Spiritual', which takes in everything human culture and thought has ever created )
SOME IMPORTANT Preliminary DETAILS ~
or just skip 'em and Keep Reading ...
• We Counsel both adult Women and Men in INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL THERAPY sessions with a Buddhist-informed theoretical base, as well as Western. We use “Mindfulness” approaches to the mind and emotions. Later on you can move on to group meditation and sharing sessions if you wish.
• RELATIONSHIP Counseling for Couples, Partnering issues, Gender and Identity issues.
We only offer Real Life, Inter-active, face to face, very personal, kind and caring as well as ‘tough-love’ and often very directive ‘tasks’ and homework when appropriate - in clear, truthful, effective sessions.

PLEASE NOTE ~
A Few House Responsibilities - Here’s the Deal… I gotta’ be strict-ish on arrangements, time-issues and other maintenance responsibilities - so we have the way clear - we have the freedom to work the session and not fuss around with the Details --
• ALL counseling sessions are all 'Live' in-office visits. No Skype guys. We must limit counseling session attendance to our Southern California local area.
• 'Phone Counseling-sessions' later on, but only when necessary, will be for 'established clients' with us.
• We offer a First-Time FREE phone consultation to local Los Angeles area inquirers.
We will certainly need to talk with you on the phone first. It's all about developing
a solid, sound 'ground' of genuine communication -- and what it is to be a responsible client.
• Please ASK US PLENTY of QUESTIONS, and really feel out if "Spiritual Adulthood" sessions might be helpful for you --
( We can possibly refer you to qualified Buddhist counselors in your own regional area if you email us )
• ONGOING REGULAR SESSIONS are by a mutually arranged fee and by appointment only.
• We offer AFFORDABLE NEGOTIABLE sliding-scale lower-fee sessions for those who really need it. We do not take insurance plans or coverage, Medicare, HMOs etc.
• We offer a much more generous EXTENDED SESSION-TIME than is usual...
ALL sessions are given much more than the standard therapy-hour's time (:55 min ).
We offer you sessions usually about one hour+20 min (:80 min) to allow plenty of time
to go really deep as you need to... without feeling cut off or hurried.
• A FIRST-TIME PHONE INQUIRY ( FREE ) is always best and much more immediate
for us to respond to you, to your issues and feelings ( ambivalent emails back and forth
really does not work well at all ) Please PHONE Us -- we'd need to talk 'Live' first -- if you sincerely wish to inquire further. 
Again…"The Greatest Risk Is Not Taking One"
____________________________________________________________

• California P.S.T OUR PHONE TIMES: NOON to 6 PM week days is the best time to try’n reach us - 310-450-2268.
And we just may be in session when you call. Leave a message + phone number + email. How can you best be reached. That’s what this is basically about at core - being reachable. ‘How can we reach you’ -- and please speak very slowly and clearly. It is important that you try your best
to make yourself ‘accessible’ -- so we can reach you -- and you can reach us -- and best, you can 'reach' yourself -- Buddha Learned How To Become an Easy To Reach Person. No barriers of protection. Nothing to protect.
____________

WHAT CONTINUES to FOLLOW is going to take some more reading time - and
some more patience on your part to read and sort yourself thru.
You do not have to read it all at once - Read at your leisure. 
TAKE IT IN SMALL BITES, GRAZE, SCROLL and SKIP AROUND IN IT --
YOU'LL CERTAINLY KNOW A LOT MORE about what you need
when you're done reading some/all of this ... hang in there
______________________________________

BE COURAGEOUS !

" As human beings, our greatness lies
not so much in being able to remake the world...
as a being able to remake ourselves.

WE must become the changes
we want to see in the world " ~ Gandhi

" You began as a Creation, now become a Creator.
Never wait at a barrier " ~ Rumi

" The limits of the possible can only be defined
by going beyond them into the impossible." ~ Arthur C. Clarke

“ Good, but impossible resolutions, are simply checks
that men draw on a bank where they have no account.
Start with the eminently 'possible'. ~ Oscar Wilde

" While one person hesitates
because they feel insecure and inferior,
the other is busy making mistakes aplenty
and becoming quite superior." ~ The Tao

• Akasa Levi, DhMA (D.Min) ~ 310-450-2268
Supervision and Spiritual direction -
our counseling therapist/facilitator -
our friend. Akasa’s BIO/Profile
is at the Table of Contents.
• We practice as Buddhist ministers / pastoral counselors, not as licensed MFT or PhD clinical psychologists.
We take in a much broader scope than just the psychological. We address the cultivation
of a very contemporary metaphysical Spirit in this difficult modern media society we live in.
Educating the Spirit also, gives you a wider, stronger inner-base and space to work with.

“DESTINY” is every step we’re taking
and going thru right now to get there.”
~ Grandfather Bearheart, Creek elder

OVERVIEW ...

" There is no such thing as a 'problem'
without a 'gift' for you in its hands.
Sometimes you have problems
because you need their gifts.
It is through gifts that you grow." ~ Richard Bach

THE ‘PROBLEM’
“ BRING YOU LIFE BACK
FROM THE 'EXILE' OF YOUR SPIRIT
and INTO A SACRED BALANCE AGAIN ! “ ~ Poet Laureate Robert Bly
• WHATEVER IT IS, YOU'RE "A-NOT-SO-HAPPY-PERSON"
Many, many folks aren’t. We're in very agitated, anxious, turbulent, uncertain times right now.
Career & Life-Purpose Despair, Emotional Stuff, Mid-Life Changes or Painful Relationship
Dilemmas personally don't make it easier. So please, go 'see' somebody & really start
working it out. 'You' - really being heard from way deep inside and coached forward &
through by a counseling therapist who can deeply understand you – human to human.
So get out of your own 'protective' self-imposed isolation: “I can do it by myself” mantra -
reinforced by ego-pride-shame-hurt-loss-fear-cycles & just put yourself into counseling sessions for awhile. It'll be good for you - you'll get some relief, some resolution and even some joy and laughter.

This is where you can work
on your Stuff and your Soul
on a 'frequent enough' basis
to make a really significant,
noticeable difference.

There is no obligation to have
a free phone-consultation with us
to see if this could feel good
and workable for you...

ARE YOU FEELING ‘DISSED’? ~
DISAPPOINTED DISCOURAGED DISTRESSED Disagreeable Discomforted Disconnected Disconcerted Discontent Disdainful Disgruntled Disgusted Disharmonious and Disheartened -- Disillusioned Disintegrated Distressed Dismayed Dismal Disorganized Disoriented Disregarded Dissatisfied Distant Distraught Distrustful and very Disturbed About It All --
This whole ‘Dis’ this or ‘Dis’ that thing - about your life. You CAN change it! We can help support and assist you. 'Therapy' is a huge personal challenge - but YOU DO have to show up for yourself to make it happen.
"Eighty percent of success is just showing up" ~ Woody Allen

Please,
Get some quality counseling therapy -
somewhere, anywhere -
that may be a place for you to start.
Be very welcome to inquire about us.
Again, maybe you are
a very UNCOMMON PERSON ....
_________________________________

" Every community needs
a group of angelic troublemakers "
~ Bayard Rustin, black activist social reformer

"Our constant 'Inner-Inquiry' is our Passion
and our Passion is our Life-task. All the rest
is the wonderful madness of art." ~ Henry James

"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything!
Anything that will assert Integrity of Purpose
and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers,
the creatures of the commonplace,
the slaves of the ordinary." ~ Sir Cecil Beaton

"Be not afraid of absurdity - do not shrink from the fantastic!
Within a dilemma - choose the most unheard-of,
the most audacious solution!
De l'audace! De l'audace!
Et encore de l'audace! Be audacious!" ~ Karen Blixen
__________
___________
____________
WHAT CONTINUES to FOLLOW is going to take some more reading time - and
some more patience on your part to read and sort yourself thru.
You do not have to read it all at once - Read at your leisure. 
TAKE IT IN SMALL BITES, GRAZE, SCROLL and SKIP AROUND IN IT --
YOU'LL CERTAINLY KNOW A LOT MORE about what you need
when you're done reading some/all of this ... hang in there
______________________________________

Another Basic Problem:
Emotions get to overrun and run thinking.
Thoughts get so embedded in feelings ~
Confusion, hopeless, numb... angry and sad
MAYBE YOU'VE BECOME SO OVERWHELMINGLY ‘IDENTIFIED’
and OVER-INVOLVED IN YOUR OWN DIFFICULT 'LIFE-STORY'
That You Can’t See The Forest Because of All The Trees!
Your 'Story' of being such a driven 'Winner' or a victimized 'Loser' - or just a plain Nobody ’out there’ - you're just so overwhelmed, you’ve become under-whelming - feeling so isolated - that you just plain 'hurt'. Maybe you’ve lost the path, or forgotten the way, or just feel so ineffective in your 'deeper' inner-search. Or you’ve just never yet really sought out Who ‘You’ really, really are - ‘in here’. Inside.
RE-DISCOVERING and DEFINING "Yourself" - totally defined in/on your OWN TERMS ! ( not society’s term’s or religion's terms or family’s terms ). YOUR Own Terms is what 'Therapy of the Spirit' is largely about ! Therapy of the 'True' Spirit is really where ALL mind / spirit / soul-healing MUST start. True therapy has to start and end with the Heart ! It’s been that way in every culture all through time! It's just only that until very recently, the 'choices' of that kind of healings have always been so few and restricted in availability to either doctors or shamans or the church. No longer. Every approach world-wide is now available to you! It's from this very Big Approach that you can truly find yourself and then truly give back to others in a valuable, clear, easy-going and natural way ... true 'Goodness'. Faith in ourselves simply as Humans-restored. And it can be 'Spiritual' AND YET totally NON-RELIGIOUS.. Please consider that!
____________________________________________________

“The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD PROJECT” is a Buddhist-based Psycho/Spiritual oriented Counseling and Alternative Therapy. The world renown and respected ancient tradition of Buddhist Mindfulness Psychology is a path of cultivating a 'transcendent' - a 'higher sanity' - a very clear-seeing ability for yourself. By developing this wisdom understanding, you are now available to generate a much more all-inclusive compassion - which leads to an authentic peace in ourselves, which we can then extend out to our family, friends and the world. Learning and using a 2500 year-old tested self-development approaches and techniques towards a clear, wholesome, peaceful, joyful mind. Traditional Buddhism is absolutely NOT a ‘religious path’ but more of a practical, pragmatic, highly intelligent ‘Humanism’ - There are NO gods and NO worship and NO religious superstitions involved in anything we offer in any way whatsoever. Unless you do want to hear it. Working archetype-forms that are really just good stories…. Or not. The Buddha ( 528 BC ) himself was an atheist. There are some challenging bewilderments in Buddhism for the mind. Zen is founded on it…. Just discovering and uncovering the essence of a sane, wise, peaceful, pure spirit that is YOU.
_______________________________________

“And then the day came
when the risk to
remain tight in a bud
was more than the risk
it took to blossom” ~ Anais Nin
_____________________________

" FORGIVENESS Is Giving Up
All Hope For A Better Past! " ~ Aba Gayle

“It is still up to you to choose
to join with ‘truth’ or with ‘illusion’.
But remember that to choose one
is to let go of the other.” ~ A Course In Miracles

“ If Nothing Changes, Nothing Changes !
When the Way comes to an end, then change -
having changed, you pass through." ~ I Ching

ABOUT WHO WE ARE and HOW WE THINK:
A JOYFUL DISCLAIMER and A Statement of Philosophy ...
Who We Are In Our Hearts and In Our Heads
as a 'Spiritually-Based' Counseling Service ~
that too is certainly going to affect you !
The Buddhist’s Theory of Everything.
We are truly 'non-denominational' and 'non-religious' and welcome all journeyers of all Ways,
or especially even those of no way. 'Spiritual' doesn't mean 'Religion'. Actually, you can't even become a 'Buddhist', as that too is just another 'label'. The ONE Web of existence, life & consciousness has many 'Names' in many different world cultures. The ONE Web 'itself', really has NO name at all. All cultures on the planet call it ‘The One’ ( 1. ) So we just simply call it "EVERYTHING". All of 'creation' itself. ‘Creator’ & ‘Creation’ is all the same thing, the same One. We simply leave it at that. One is One and there is nothing outside of it. It's All ONE. You gotta’ love it all. We try to love it All. Most of the time, piece by piece in peace.
" There is no such thing as a strictly 'secular' therapy - or that a therapy is 'non-spiritual' .. That’s where establishment psychological sciences are poetically naïve. EVERY 'therapy' is spiritual if it deals with matters of the heart and emotions and feelings. Buddhist approaches in particular, are 'spiritual' BUT non-religious. The historical Buddha was a Humanist & a Pragmatist. There's a freedom of intelligence & openness to that - a big difference. " ~ Abraham Maslow
• WHY of ALL Possible Things - are we Buddhist-based ???
We particularly use the Buddhist branding name, because those Asian cultures have got some of the most skillfully mature, very grounded, least misleading, most inclusive and the very best of the mind-healing techniques available so far - so far as we've come across. So we use 'em. And we're still strongly very eclectic: we use many diverse approaches - so we'll use what YOU need, not what 'we' like best or 'believe in'. We're on your side! We practice as Buddhist ministers not as licensed MFT or clinical psychologists.
_______________________________________________

Psychological Inflexibility: an A.C.T View of Suffering
The core conception of ACT is that psychological suffering is usually caused by the interface between human language and cognition, and the control of human behavior by previous direct experience. And failure. ‘Psychological inflexibility’ is then to emerge from experiential avoidance, cognitive entanglement, attachment of a conceptualized ‘self’, loss of contact with the present, and the resulting failure to take needed behavioral steps in accord with core values. An extensive research program on a theory of convoluted language and cognition, contemporary Relational Frame Theory (RFT / ACT ) takes the view that trying to change difficult thoughts and feelings as a means of coping can be counter productive, but new, powerful alternatives are available - including ACT: acceptance, mindfulness, cognitive defusion, values, and committed action therapies..
Cognitive fusion -- the domination of stimulus functions based on literal language even when that process is a harmful, experiential avoidance -- the phenomenon that occurs when a person is unwilling to remain in contact with particular private experiences and takes steps to alter the form or frequency of these events and the contexts that occasion them, even when doing so causes psychological harm the domination of a conceptualized self over the "self as context" that emerges from perspective taking and relational frames lack of values, confusion of goals with values, and other values problems that can underlie the failure to build broad and flexible repertoires and an inability to build a larger unit of behavior through commitment to behavior that moves in the direction of chosen values
_________________________________________________

We'll gladly give you a FREELY offered Local Phone Consultation –
No Obligation ! - or call to set up an actual appointment • 310-450-2268
The phone is much more personal - and some quality 'personal attention'
is probably what you need for yourself right now -- more 'closeness'
rather than distance... We do know that when you're feeling vulnerable, skittish or just plain bad and sad -- sometimes 'reaching out' is hard -- please, do take up the challenge!
"Take the first step in faith.
You don't have to see the whole staircase
-- just take the first step." ~ Martin Luther King
_______________________________
we also offer to the community ~
• Prior to Akasa Levi’s partial retirement from group meditation teaching in 2014 with a Parkinson’ diagnosis - he Creatively-minded Corporate/Business Consultation: Human Resource Resolution
and 'Spirit In The Workplace' development. Very way out of the box stuff. We also consult
on the American 'spiritual mind-set', 'The Crisis In Faith', 'Loss of Classical Mythologies
to Technology', 'What's Wrong With Our Minds and Culture?' and current 'religious trends'
(trends that are quite unconscious, un self-identified & dreadfully naive within the
contemporary American/Western cultural praadigm as a whole.
• We Counsel all manifestations of alternative & emerging life-styles: mixed racial/religious
partnerings & marriages; gay & bi curious, str8 still exploring. It's the 21st Century:
It's a big wide open world out there now... We offer bridge-building between communities:
people of all colors, religions, diverse cultures & ethnic origins. A pluralistic society brings
so many awesome enrichments as well as struggles of balance & new found respect ...
"If you do not see God
in the next person you meet,
you need look no further." ~ Gandhi
__________________________________________

“La vraie générosité envers l'avenir consiste à tout donner au présent.”
“True generosity towards the future is to give everything to the present.” ~ Albert Camus

" THE GREATEST RISK IS NOT TAKING ONE! "
___________________________________

QUOTES ~ The Gift of Wise Words
To measure you by your smallest deed
is to judge the ocean by the frailty of it's foam.
To judge you by your failures is to cast blame
upon the seasons for their inconsistencies   ~ Kahlil Gibran

What good you do is of little significance,
But it is very important that you do it.
WE must be the change you want
to see in the world " ~ Mahatma Gandhi

"If we have no peace,
it is because we have forgotten
that we belong to each other."  ~ Mother Teresa

"You yourself,
as much as anyone in the entire Universe,
deserves your OWN affection, care and love.
You can explore the whole universe looking
for someone who is more deserving of your
love and affection than you are yourself...
and you will not find that person anywhere.
To be maximum effective -
the Practice of Loving-Kindness
must absolutely begin with yourself!"   ~ The Buddha
________________________________________

 “Who was born first, 'You' or 'The World'?
As long as you give first place to ‘The World’
-- you are bound by it.
Once you realize, beyond all trace of doubt,
that the ‘world’ is in you --
-- and not 'you' in the world,
right then and there, you are out of it.
Of course, your body remains in the world
and 'of' the world,
but YOU are not  d-e-l-u-d-e-d by it.”
 ~ Nisargadatta Maharaj

They drew a circle that shut me out --
Calling me a heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win --
We drew a circle that took them in.
~ Edwin Markham "Outwitted"

"Do not look back in Anger,
or forward in Fear,
but around in Awareness"  ~ James Thurber

"At night make me fearlessly one
with the Darkness ~
In the morning make me
optimistically one with the Light" ~ Wendell Berry

You may want to hi-lite, copy and send
the quote below to people you know...
some of the wisest guidance you will
ever read, put to personal use or offer.
Here it is ~
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart.
Try to love the 'Questions' themselves - like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a foreign language.
Do not, just right now, seek for the Answers.
The 'Answers' which cannot now be given to you -
because you would not be able to actually ‘live’ them.
And the point is to ‘live’ everything -
experiencing everything.
At present, you need to live the Questions themselves.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without even noticing it,
live along some day into the true Answer. Your answer."
~ Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" (1903-1908)
__________________________________________

We are non-denominational and definitely non-religious and
welcome all journeyers of all Ways or even none.

 -:¦:- The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD PROJECT • buddhistcounselingmindfulnesstherapy.blogspot.com • Buddhist-based 'alternative' approaches to relating with Your True Core Self • One-to-One individual therapy • Relationship counseling • Partnering issues • Difficult to communicate feelings • Disheartened anxious insecure Wounded Spirit • Counsel for 'Uncommon People' 'Rebels' 'Creatives' 'Sensitives' cerebral verbal artistic gifted ~ yet really Unhappy. "Mindfulness Insight" cultivates a calm, kind, wise, deep liberation with a "Big Good-Hearted Mind"
The SPIRITUAL ADULTHOOD PROJECT is a Member of S.E.N. (Spiritual Emergency Network
at Esalen Institute in Big Sur). We are an outreach-project of “The Laughing Buddha Sangha”
in Santa Monica, CA 90405 - and utilize the practice-approaches offered by Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre/Santa Rosa, CA. Our favorite meditation center here in town is InsightLA.org in Santa Monica about 5 blocks away right up the street.
♦ The LAUGHING BUDDHA SANGHA - guided by AKASA LEVI, a former ordained American Buddhist forest monk who lived many years in rural Asia. Akasa coaches a small, salon-sized Satsang sitting group for Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation with practice discussion and Dharma theory study. Now a feisty 75, this eccentric, really funny ole' Dharma-mentor teaches in his little meditation shrine room filled with statues of the Buddha. He invites anyone - beginers welcome - practicing an 'awareness meditation' to come sit.