Spiritual Exploration in Counselling: Molly’s Perspective

I have often seen that beneath many of the concerns that people bring to counselling lie deeper and more fundamental questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What does this mean? Do I matter?

I have begun to think of health, mental and otherwise, in terms of coherence: a sense of alignment across the layers of body, mind, and soul. Often in counselling, we pay great attention to the layer of mind (of course! It’s not called mental health for nothing). This is a necessary, worthy, and beneficial aspect of oneself to give attention to, because it helps to have a cohesive interpretation of what has happened to us and around us and how that has affected our experience. 

Counselling has also, more recently, begun to incorporate more of the body-based layer into its modalities and approaches. EMDR, for example, is one method that incorporates a somatic element of healing (“somatic” means “of the body”) which is intended to facilitate greater understanding and coherence between what the mind and body are simultaneously going through. 

Exploring this connection is also incredibly worthwhile. And yet, without factoring in the layer of the soul, any mind-body work will only take a person so far. 

This is where spiritual exploration (and occasionally, spiritual reconstruction) comes in. Unless we give ourselves time to get familiar with what we believe and experience on the deepest levels, it will be very difficult to avoid being automatically guided by subconscious uncertainties, expectations, or fears. This is where we may experience incoherence across the other layers of body and mind: when what is subconscious subtly influences thoughts and actions that we think we are managing consciously. 

I want to be quite clear that my idea of spiritual reconstruction is about supporting YOUR exploration of beliefs and YOUR version of the answers to existential questions. I am not here to construct a new worldview for you or tell you what to think.

Now, will I share with you the ideas that have resonated with me about what consciousness is, how reality works, and what happens to a soul after death? Absolutely - if it helps. I love these topics. I could blab about them all day long. 

Ultimately, though, I want to ask the questions and have the conversations that help you put together an understanding of the world, your experience, and the beyond that makes sense to you. Only then will you have the foundation to build the rest of the layers on top of: beliefs to support actions and thoughts that all lead you, coherently, in the direction you want to go for your life.