A Miracle Pill

Many of us consciously and unconsciously look for a miracle pill or thought or idea that will set us free. People I have spoken with have talked about an idiot pill that can keep us, happy idiots. That sounds kind of funny, but if we think about it, many of us would like a pill that makes us happy. Hundreds of thousands of people and more are on anti-depressants to help them to stay more even keeled. Sometimes in severe depression, it is helpful to take some medical intervention to help us to get through difficult times where we feel we really need the help as we work through our depressive state. It can also be helpful for elderly who have lost so many loved ones to be able to live a more peaceful life. And yet, many of us use these pills in order not to feel bad. Sometimes we are even afraid to feel. In truth, there is no magic pill that can take our pain away or that can make us happy. The only way I know of to live happier and more peaceful lives is to do the painful work of going deep into our unconscious to reclaim parts of us that we gave up in order to survive and to take a chance and to look at our truths with our eyes wide open. Doing so is not easy and often requires help from others. We need to be able to shed light on difficult times and abuses and traumas in our lives, not to re-traumatize ourselves, but to feel them again, with assistance and with distance and perspective so that we can understand how they impacted us and what they cost us. In doing so, we gain compassion for us and learn how to be with those painful wounds in us so that we can move forward in a new way. Another patient of mine calls this process, open soul surgery. There is a patient I work with who had been doing some very deep and painful work where she was finally able to talk about secrets she has kept for most of her life and to begin to feel some confidence in herself and some motivation to do things that give her joy. She had experienced years of feeling passive and melancholy and had begun to feel a change. Then she had gone to her medical doctor who suggested trying new anti-depressants to help her with her melancholy. She thought that was a good idea, and so added a new medicine to her existing anti-depressant. When she saw me next she was very fatigued, was sleeping a lot of the time and feeling very passive. At least she wasn`t feeling bad. As we spoke she mentioned there is a part of her hoping for a miracle pill that can take her pain away as this is such difficult work. I told her that no, there is no miracle pill, but in doing the difficult work, she can begin to do things she has wanted to do and can experience very rewarding outcomes like being happier, speaking up for herself, and having the motivation to live. She heard me, and together we started looking at the part of her who wanted this miracle pill and to learn from her. That this part of her holding some important information that we wanted to hear and understand. One thing we discovered is that this young part of her is very imaginative and that she could learn to use this imagination in her life in some kind of art project or in writing, etc. and that this could make her life so much more fun and interesting. As we can shift from wanting to escape pain to want to understand our pain and how to work with it in a new way, we can begin to live a life that is happier and more fulfilling. Shift Your Story/Shift Your Life Is there any part of you that are looking for or would like a miracle pill for something? These days, with marketing techniques as they are, many people claim to help us to have this miracle. The truth is, they may be able to help us with tools, but that there is no quick fix. What part of you would like a quick fix? What would this quick fix entail? What would it give you, and what would it help you to avoid? Get out a piece of paper or your table, and in one column write out what a quick fix would give you, and in another column write out what it would help you to avoid. Write free association and give yourself 15 minutes to do this exercise. Don`t read it as you are writing. When you are done, read what you have written. Take a minute and digest it. What have you learned about yourself?


Many of us consciously and unconsciously look for a miracle pill or thought or idea that will set us free. People I have spoken with have talked about an idiot pill that can keep us, happy idiots. That sounds kind of funny, but if we think about it, many of us would like a pill that makes us happy. Hundreds of thousands of people and more are on anti-depressants to help them to stay more even-keeled. Sometimes in severe depression, it is helpful to take some medical intervention to help us to get through difficult times where we feel we really need the help as we work through our depressive state. It can also be helpful for elderly who have lost so many loved ones to be able to live a more peaceful life. And yet, many of us use these pills in order not to feel bad. Sometimes we are even afraid to feel.

In truth, there is no magic pill that can take our pain away or that can make us happy. The only way I know of to live happier and more peaceful lives is to do the painful work of going deep into our unconscious to reclaim parts of us that we gave up in order to survive and to take a chance and to look at our truths with our eyes wide open.

Doing so is not easy and often requires help from others. We need to be able to shed light on difficult times and abuses and traumas in our lives, not to re-traumatize ourselves, but to feel them again, with assistance and with distance and perspective so that we can understand how they impacted us and what they cost us. In doing so, we gain compassion for us and learn how to be with those painful wounds in us so that we can move forward in a new way. Another patient of mine calls this process, open soul surgery. 

There is a patient I work with who had been doing some very deep and painful work where she was finally able to talk about secrets she has kept for most of her life and to begin to feel some confidence in herself and some motivation to do things that give her joy. She had experienced years of feeling passive and melancholy and had begun to feel a change. Then she had gone to her medical doctor who suggested trying new anti-depressants to help her with her melancholy. She thought that was a good idea, and so added a new medicine to her existing anti-depressant. When she saw me next she was very fatigued, was sleeping a lot of the time and feeling very passive. At least she wasn`t feeling bad. As we spoke she mentioned there is a part of her hoping for a miracle pill that can take her pain away as this is such difficult work. I told her that no, there is no miracle pill, but in doing the difficult work, she can begin to do things she has wanted to do and can experience very rewarding outcomes like being happier, speaking up for herself, and having the motivation to live. 

She heard me, and together we started looking at the part of her who wanted this miracle pill and to learn from her. That this part of her holding some important information that we wanted to hear and understand. One thing we discovered is that this young part of her is very imaginative and that she could learn to use this imagination in her life in some kind of art project or in writing, etc. and that this could make her life so much more fun and interesting. 

As we can shift from wanting to escape pain to want to understand our pain and how to work with it in a new way, we can begin to live a life that is happier and more fulfilling.

Shift Your Story/Shift Your Life

Is there any part of you that are looking for or would like a miracle pill for something? These days, with marketing techniques as they are, many people claim to help us to have this miracle. The truth is, they may be able to help us with tools, but that there is no quick fix. 

What part of you would like a quick fix? What would this quick fix entail? What would it give you, and what would it help you to avoid?

Get out a piece of paper or your table, and in one column write out what a quick fix would give you, and in another column write out what it would help you to avoid. Write free association and give yourself 15 minutes to do this exercise. Don`t read it as you are writing. When you are done, read what you have written. Take a minute and digest it. 


What have you learned about yourself?

My soothing words of wisdom for the week is about where and how you feel chaos in your body: 

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