IMAGO Relationship Coach and Clinical Counsellor / Merle Lifson-Dettori

IMAGO Relationship Coach and Clinical Counsellor / Merle Lifson-Dettori Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from IMAGO Relationship Coach and Clinical Counsellor / Merle Lifson-Dettori, Marriage Therapist, Sedgefield.

In order to empathize with someone's experience you must be willing to believe them as they see it and not how you imagi...
12/07/2021

In order to empathize with someone's experience you must be willing to believe them as they see it and not how you imagine their experience to be.
- Brene Brown -

26/06/2021

"If it’s hard to identify a key resource for a challenge, no worries. In one form or another, try love."
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

14/06/2021

"Thankfulness is simply about appreciating what is true, such as flowers and sunlight, paperclips and fresh water, the kindness of others, easy access to knowledge and wisdom, and light at the flick of a switch."
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

10/06/2021

"Compassion, sense of perspective, seeing the whole person, letting go, wiping the slate clean: can you give these things as generously to yourself as you give them to others?"
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

27/05/2021

"Compassion for yourself is fundamental, since if you don’t care how you feel and want to do something about it, it’s hard to make an effort to become happier and more resilient."
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

18/05/2021

Do you believe in love?

The Practice: Dr Rick Hanson Ph.D

Trust in Love.

Why?

Take a breath right now, and notice how abundant the air is, full of life-giving oxygen offered freely by trees and other green growing things. You can't see air, but it's always available for you.

Love is a lot like the air. It may be hard to see – but it's in you and all around you.

In the press of life – dealing with hassles in personal relationships and bombarded with news of war and other conflicts – it's easy to lose sight of love, and feel you can't place your faith in it. But in fact, to summarize a comment from Gandhi, daily life is saturated with moments of cooperation and generosity – between complete strangers! Let alone with one's friends and family.

Love is woven into your day because it's woven into your DNA: as our ancestors evolved over the last several million years, many scientists believe that love, broadly defined, has been the primary driving force behind the evolution of the brain. Bands of early humans that were particularly good at understanding and caring for each other out-competed less cooperative and loving bands, and thereby passed on the genes of empathy, bonding, friendship, altruism, romance, compassion, and kindness – the genes, in a word, of love.

Nonetheless, even though the resting state of your brain – its "home base" when you are not stressed, in pain, or feeling threatened – is grounded in love, it's all too easy to be driven from home by something as small as a critical comment in a business meeting or a frown across a dinner table. Then we go off to a kind of inner homelessness, exiled for a time from our natural abode, caught up in the fear or anger that makes love seem like a mostly-forgotten dream. After a while, this can become the new normal, so we call homelessness home – like becoming habituated to breathing shallowly and forgetting the richness of air that would be available if we would only breathe deeply.

So we need to come home to love. To recognize and have confidence in the love in your own heart – which will energize and protect you, even when you must also be assertive with others. To see and have faith in the love in others – even when it is veiled or it comes out in problematic ways. To trust in love that's as present as air, to trust in loving that's as natural as breathing.

How?

Take a breath. Notice how available air is, how you can trust in it. Notice the feeling of being able to rely on the air.

Bring to mind someone who loves you. Feel the fact of this love – even if it is, to paraphrase John Welwood, a perfect love flowing through an imperfect person. Can you feel your breath and body relaxing, as you trust in this person's love for you? Can you feel your thoughts calming, your mood improving, and your heart opening to others? Let it sink in, that trusting in love feels good and refuels you. Then if you like, do this same reflection with other people who love you.

Bring to mind someone you love. Feel the reality of your love; know that you are loving. As in the paragraph just above, absorb the benefits of recognizing and trusting in your love. Try this with others whom you love.

Scan back over your life and notice some of the many times when there was love in your heart – expressed one way or another, including generosity, kindness, patience, teamwork, self-restraint, affection, and caring. Appreciate as well that there have been many times when you wanted to love, were looking for someone or something to love (friends and good causes, too, not just romantic partners), or longed for more love in your life. These are facts, and you can trust in them – trusting in the lovingness of your heart.

In situations, open to your own lovingness. Privately ask yourself questions like: As a loving person, what is important to me here? Trusting in love, what seems right to do? Remember that you can be strong – and if need be, create consequences for others – while staying centered in love or one of its many expressions (e.g., empathy, fair play, goodwill). What happens when you assert yourself from a loving place?

Tune into the lovingness in others, no matter how obscured by their own homelessness, their own fear or anger – like seeing a distant campfire through the trees. Sense the longing in people to be at peace in their relationships, and to give and get love. What happens in a challenging relationship when you stay in touch with this lovingness inside the other person? Notice that you can both feel the lovingness in others and be tough as nails about your own rights and needs.

Don't sentimentalize love or be naïve about it. Trusting in love does not mean assuming that someone will love you. It means confidence in the fundamentally loving nature of every person, and in the wholesome power of your own lovingness to protect you and touch the heart of others. It means coming home – home by the hearth of love.

30/04/2021

Calling On Friends

When we include our friends in the full story of our life, we build authentic relationships in which we can be who we truly are.
When we are going through a difficult time, we may hesitate to call even our best friends because we don't want to burden them with our troubles. This can be especially true if we've been going through a series of challenges, and we're starting to feel as if we sound like a broken record. It is important to remember that at times like these our friends sincerely want to be there for us whenever they can. We can always check with them to make sure it's a good time for them before we start talking, and if it's not a good time, we can call back at another time, or call another friend.

We know for ourselves that when we have a good friend, we don't want them to suffer alone when we are just a phone call away. We want them to call us and share their sorrows with us, as well as their joys, because this is what sharing a life through friendship is about. It is at our lowest points that we really need to rely on our friends without worrying that we are a burden. If you are feeling self-conscious about having a tough time, you can bring this fact into the conversation by acknowledging it. Chances are your friend will reassure you that she is happy to be there for you. In fact, rather than feeling taxed, most of us feel better when we have helped a friend simply by listening empathically while they share their feelings.

Without our friends, we would be hard pressed to get through the tough times and celebrate the good ones. If we leave our friends out of our process when the going gets tough, our friendships can begin to feel shallow. On the other hand, when we include our friends in the full story of our life -- the good, the bad, and the ugly -- we build authentic relationships in which we can be who we truly are. When we do this, we invite our friends to bring their whole selves to the relationship as well.
- Daily Om -

15/04/2021

"As you grow inner strengths and become more resilient, you will feel less anxiety, loneliness, hurt, and resentment. And when the waves of life come at you, you’ll meet them with more peace, contentment, and love in the core of your being."
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

12/04/2021

Our soul and our psyche know how to do grief. We don’t need to learn it. It’s not a technique. What we need to learn is not to avoid it.
- David Kessler -

08/04/2021

"In meditation, make room for emotionally positive experiences, such as feeling peaceful, loving, or happy. This will help to weave them into your nervous system while also steadying your mind."
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

01/04/2021

"Relationships require trust, and trust comes from reliability. You have a legitimate need to find out what you can count on from others."
Rick Hanson, Ph.D.

01/04/2021

"Has your relationship lost the spark? I don’t know anything that has the potential of reigniting a smoldering relationship faster than learning the love language of your partner and speaking it on a regular basis. If you learn to speak the love language of the other person, and start doing it consistently, you touch their heart and cause them to think, “What’s going on here? You’re responding differently to me.” Then they begin to respond differently to you. This is how the spark is kindled."
- Dr Gary Chapman -

Address

Sedgefield
6573

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+27837090467

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