It’s been said that the most valuable treasures are guarded by the fiercest dragons. As souls journeying through this human experience, we are bound to face challenges, some of which bring us to our knees. Be it the lasting effects of trauma, unresolved grief, anxiety, anger, or countless other painful issues, everyone’s dragon is unique. Understandably, we want to avoid or repress unpleasant feelings and use any number of strategies to try to numb ourselves from our pain, including shopping, eating, alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, etc. Yet, by doing so, we become fragmented and alienated from ourselves.  We forget who we are and feel lost. There is no way to numb “bad” feelings while remaining open to “good” ones, and, sooner or later, we start to have trouble feeling truly joyful or connected to our lives, our relationships, and the very things that give us meaning and purpose.

It's hard to deny that we seem to be in the midst of a global mental health emergency. Depression is now the leading cause of disability worldwide. Why should this be when increasingly people--perhaps more than any time in history--are engaged in therapy and are taking psychotropic medications? Well, certainly some of this can be explained by the fact that modern psychiatry and psychology have largely become divorced from the very thing they were designed to study and treat—the psyche (the Greek word for soul).  I truly believe that any discussion about one’s mental and emotional health that doesn’t acknowledge the soul is going to be incomplete. The soul—that deep and abiding part of us which transcends our physical existence—is always striving to communicate with us and unapologetically demanding our attention. When we ignore the summons from our soul, we do so at our own peril, and our lives become diminished. So, what is your soul crying out for? What is it trying to tell you?

I find that, more often than not, our dragons turn out to be our greatest teachers. I feel like my role as a therapist is to accompany my clients as they become deeply curious about their dragons and the treasures that have yet to be revealed. I work best with adult clients who do not want to ignore the deep calling of their soul and who want to awaken to a higher and richer way of being.