A TWELVE WEEK PSYCHOSYNTHESIS PRACTICE
Compiled and Edited by Thomas Yeomans, Ph.D.
No. 8 – TRANSPERSONAL QUALITIES
After completing week 7, you can take some time to think and reflect on some of the transpersonal qualities:
BEAUTY
COMPASSION
COMPREHENSION
COURAGE
CREATIVITY
ENERGY
POWER
ENTHUSIASM
ETERNITY
INFINITY
UNIVERSALITY
FREEDOM
LIBERATION
DETACHMENT
COOPERATION
FRIENDSHIP
BROTHERHOOD
GENEROSITY
GOODNESS
GOODWILL
GRATITUDE
APPRECIATION
ADMIRATION
WONDER
HARMONY
HUMOUR
INCLUSIVENESS
JOY
BLISS
LIGHT
LOVE
ORDER
PATIENCE
POSITIVENESS
REALITY
TRUTH
RENEWAL
TRUST
FAITH
SERENITY
PEACE
SERVICE
SILENCE
QUIET
CALM
SIMPLICITY
SYNTHESIS
WHOLENESS
UNDERSTANDING
VITALITY
WILL
WISDOM
Reflecting on these qualities can also be helpful for exercise No. 9 below.
No. 9 – IDEAL MODEL EXERCISE
The creative imagination is a powerful tool for personal growth. It can be used to form an ideal model, concept, or image of oneself which provides energy and direction, and which is capable of being expressed outwardly in the world. Forming an ideal model means creating a realistic, and attainable self image which includes, or is substituted for the many already existing within us that may be one-sided, impractical, or restricting. These inner models of our personality—conscious or unconscious—are not only diverse in nature, origin, and energy level, but are often mutually exclusive, and in considerable conflict among themselves. The purpose of this technique is to develop the ideal model itself—the realistic vision of that which one can, and truly wants to become.
To do this we need first to recognize and understand the multiplicity of models which limit our appreciation of what we can be. Once these conflicting models have been understood, the exercise proceeds to the deliberate, purposeful construction and utilization of the ideal model itself.
The ideal model is not an ultimate model of perfection, of complete psychosynthesis. It represents rather the next chosen step, or stage, in our growth, such as strengthening or integrating some undeveloped psychological function, building a desired quality or small cluster of qualities, establishing a more effective pattern of action, etc. It is therefore a realistic model of inner and outer living, toward which we can move, and which we can gradually modify and expand as we ourselves change and grow.
In the form in which it is presented, the exercise is intended for individual use. It can be easily modified to be used in groups. Suggestion for its use in groups and in therapy situations are given at the end.
Preparation
Have at hand your psychological workbook or writing paper and pencil, at least seven sheets of large sketching paper and a set of oil pastels, coloured pens or crayons. Number the sheets 1 to 7, and use them in that order.
Select a place where you will be quiet and undisturbed for at least an hour and a half.
NOTE: Once you start, it is important to carry the exercise to completion without interruption.
A word of caution is needed here. There are occasions where attempting to act out a positive quality in our imagination may make an opposite one emerge. For example, imagining to talk to an audience with calm and assurance, may cause anxiety to appear. Imagining to act lovingly toward a certain person, one may suddenly experience anger. This indicates that there is in the unconscious some emotion that needs to be brought to the surface and released before proceeding to utilize the ideal model.
The fact that negative aspects sometimes emerge when we try to develop positive ones is clear evidence that placing emphasis on the positive—provided it is done in a wise and responsible way—does not in any way lead to repression of the negative in us. Rather it helps us get in touch with it and deal with it, but from a positive framework, that is, only as the negative becomes a real obstacle to further growth.
This exercise is also ideally suited to be done in combination with an Evening Review (No. 3) of your actual expression and application of the ideal model during the day.
The exercise can also be used effectively in groups, and by therapists and counsellors with their clients. Therapists and counsellors are urged to experience the exercise themselves before using it with clients. By doing so they will gain increased sensitivity in its right timing and use, and a deeper understanding of the dynamics involved.
In groups, it has been found helpful at the end of the exercise to form small clusters of three or four people, wherein each person in turn shows his drawings and shares and discusses what emerged, and gets feedback from the others.
Procedure
Sit in a relaxed position. Let your feelings become calm. Allow your mind to become quiet, but remain alert. Then read carefully the following words:
1. All of us underevaluate ourselves in some way. We each have an image or model of ourselves which is worse than we really are. Sometimes we believe this model to be true.
Close your eyes and think about this model for a while. Let an image of it come into your mind. Try to see it clearly. Pay attention to your feelings about it; study it for a while, getting to know it as much as you can. Take some time to do this. Then open your eyes.
(After you have completed this first phase, continue reading the directions.)
Now draw a picture of that image of yourself. Sometimes this is the image of a person, sometimes it may be a symbol, or perhaps an abstract pattern of colors. Or if you don’t have an image, you can just begin to draw and let it come.
(After you have finished drawing, continue reading.)
Write down the thoughts you had about the image, your feelings about it, the meaning you see in the drawing, the relation it has to your everyday life, and anything else that may be relevant.
(Continue reading after this.)
Now recollect yourself; put aside this model; take a few deep breaths… again relax your body… let your feelings become calm let your mind quiet down, but remain alert… Then read carefully the next statement, and deal with it just as with the previous one. After you are through with the drawing and the writing, go to the following statement, and so on until you complete statement six.
2. I also overevaluate myself in some way. I have an inner image of myself which is better than I really am.
3. There is in me some glamorous “secret-daydream” model or image of how I would like to be, one that is usually exaggerated, unattainable in practice, and therefore sterile.
4. I have also a model of myself as I would like to appear to others, as contrasted to how I really am.
5. There are also in me models of how other people see me, how they believe I am—the images they project onto me; both images I like and images I resent. (In working with this, take time to consider each kind and draw both on the same sheet.)
6. Finally, there is in me an image of how other people would like me to be, of what they expect of me, of how they would like to change me.
Take all the drawings and look at them one at a time, in sequence. Get in touch again with each model… name it remember your feelings about it.
Now stand up and with your eyes closed get in touch with the weight of these images… feel how they limit and restrict you… how they hold you down… As you stand, let your body move to SHAKE THEM AWAY! Really shake off their weight and drop all these false, imposed models of yourself with an act of will… let go of them… and be still for a while experiencing how you feel. Then open your eyes.
7. Now sit down, again closing your eyes, and recollect and centre yourself. Think through what you really and realistically would like to be. Let an image of yourself as this model come from within you. Take time to do this. Examine this image, getting to know it as well as you can. See
yourself that way. Then add to it any other aspect that you decide is appropriate, and drop anything that doesn’t seem right or useful. Open your eyes and draw an image or symbol of it. And then write any thoughts or feelings you have about it.
(Continue reading after you completed this.)
The next and last step of the exercise has the purpose of ‘grounding’ this model, of helping to make it a living and dynamic element in your everyday life. How to proceed with this step depends on how you feel about what you’ve already done, and particularly about the ideal model represented in the seventh picture. Its development may have been accompanied by the clear emergence of “good” positive feelings, or perhaps by an insight or realization such as “of course this is what I want to be, why didn’t I think of it before”. Or considering it now you may experience an inner certainty that this ideal model is ‘right’ and ‘good’, that it is what you want to be, and that becoming it will be a step forward in your growth. This does not mean it will be perfect, or complete in all details—you can always change it or improve it later.
If the model seems good to you, you can definitely proceed to the last stage of the exercise. (If you feel tired, you can at this point take a break and continue later on, or perhaps the next day. But waiting too long will eliminate some of the positive feelings that have emerged, which can be used to vitalize the model.)
On the other hand, as you reconsider the model you may feel that although it is generally in the right direction, it is not quite ‘on’, and that it may need further development, or changes, before utilizing it. In this case you may want to spend 15 to 30 minutes a day, for the next few days, working on improving the model until you are satisfied that it is what you want. Or you may proceed with the exercise, but at first with caution, as an experiment, and as you do so you can keep improving the model on the basis of your experience.
But perhaps you may be uncertain about whether the model is actually right for you; whether it would be a step forward from the present; whether it would not be another limitation. If you feel this way, go back through the first six models you discarded, and consider whether some of them didn’t creep back unnoticed, and conditioned your ideal model. If this seems to be the case, make sure you let go of them. Then focus on this model again, and ask yourself—on the basis of which beliefs, motives, values, aims, experiences, etc. do you consider it to be your ideal? This last step may be quite valuable even if you feel satisfied with your model. Such an approach will often locate the causes of the impasse, and clear the ground for development of the true ideal model. You can then repeat step 7.
8. Once you feel good about your ideal model, close your eyes, visualize yourself as being that model; see your face, your eyes, your posture, your expression, all embodying the qualities of that model … spend all the time you need to do this. Then BECOME that model feel what it is like to be it. Visualize yourself dynamically in a number of everyday situations in your own life, possessing and acting out the qualities and attitudes of that model.
Now open your eyes, consider what happened, and write down any new insight, or anything you may want to remember. Then decide if you want to make any new changes to your ideal model.
This eighth part of the exercise gives a practical model of action which we can use more and more spontaneously when the need arises. It is quite useful if performed only once, but will be most beneficial if it is repeated frequently, preferably daily for a while. It is most valuable if done early in the morning, playing in the imagination the particular situations that are likely to occur that day. End the exercise by affirming your determination to act with the qualities and attitudes of the ideal model throughout the day, and especially during the situations considered.
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