About

An Approach to Soul Care

“We can define soul care as the support and restoration of the well-being of persons in their depth and totality, with special concern for their inner life… The goal of such care can be described as fostering the psycho-spiritual growth of this inner-person.”

David G. Benner. Care of Souls, p. 23.

Responding to a Crisis

“When life is in a self imposed crisis, embracing the ugly part(s) of one’s soul long enough to become a person of humility and life to take on new meaning.”

From Speech by Robert Downey Jr.

Invitation

Cactus Hugging or Hugging Your Cactus is an invitation to deny or (die to) self or ego.

It’s a journey from the false, shadow, or wounded self to discover truer self or essence.

Journey of Personal Growth

A Journey that starts at rock bottom (self-imposed crisis) and ends with humility and new meaning.

CRISIS

Is my life, or a significant part of my life not working to the point of creating a personal crisis?

Is this crisis self-imposed, are my own behaviors and patterns behavior the source of the crisis?

HOPE

Do I have genuine hope that things can get better, that I can move on from this crisis?

Am I willing to do the difficult, personal work required to realize this hope?

Do I need to lean into the transformative power of hopelessness and despair for a season?

FAITH & FORGIVENESS

Does my faith at its core promote, encourage, offer, and even create the space for forgiveness?

Am I able to both give and receive forgiveness for all things, especially towards myself?

RESPONSABILITY

Am I admitting and seeking forgiveness for my behaviors that have caused harm to others?

Do I want to change these harmful behaviors and patterns of behavior?

EMBRACE the UGLY

Am I aware of the underlying brokenness, ego, and false sense of self that is the source of these harmful behaviors?

Am I willing to “die to” this part of ego/self, reining it in to limit the damage it causes?

Can I accept and even love this part of self, as it is not going away; instead learn to integrate it into a more holistic sense of self? 

LONG ENOUGH

Am I willing to commit to the amount of time needed for true humility, (life not about me)?

Will I seek the appropriate help needed: counseling, 12 Steps, spiritual direction, personally reflection, support groups, etc.?

Will I engage in the hard soul work of spiritual disciplines like prayer, meditation, solitude and contemplation as part of this process?

NEW MEANING

Do I really want my life to be different, to have a new and different sense of meaning?

Am I willing to use what I learn through this journey to help others?

Watch the following videos to get more details on the Hug Your Cactus Journey [hyperlinks below]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXjaPuqx0FCVYRE_24PesAjMRGUU8qItn