I am Sr. Paola and I belong to the province of Italy.
Since 1985 my mission is to work as a psychologist and psychotherapist.
Integrate body and mind
In recent years, I have become very interested in the emergence of numerous psychological and psychotherapeutic trends that seek to integrate the body and mind. I cannot completely change my human/spiritual approach of depth psychology, which I learned at the Institute of Psychology at the Gregorian University in Rome. However, I have attended numerous webinars and courses on these new approaches and I have realised that each of them can provide me with new ideas and more effective methods of intervention, taking greater account of the unity between mind and body in the lives of the people I meet.
Some also refer to mindfulness, a strategy and approach to life that aims to help us connect, here and now, without judgement, but with acceptance and openness, with the experience we are living.
During my many years of work and encounters with people of different ages, I have realised how important it is to observe the person in front of me carefully and to learn to read their non-verbal communication, which always comes through the body, the face, the posture and the gaze. I found the techniques of somatic resources awareness interesting, which teach us to observe the effects of psychological stress on our own bodies.
Other schools of thought are based on the principle that the mechanism underlying psychological suffering is experiential avoidance, i.e. all efforts to alter or modify one’s internal experience. These approaches emphasise how important and effective realism is in feeling better: accepting oneself as one is, accepting reality as it is and others as they are. This is the first step in changing the way we see and perceive what we are experiencing, by unmasking the illusions we often have, the tension towards overly high ideals and the categorical imperative of having to be.
This is an important part of my commitment to psychological counselling, so that people feel better and are freer to follow the values they believe in.
Broadening the horizon
In the various approaches, I have nevertheless noticed the limitation of a vision of the person that seems to me to be partial: everything stops at the person himself or herself, without any perspective of transcendence of the self and of values that continually lead the subject beyond himself or herself. The risk is that this encourages a form of attention that is focused on oneself and one’s own needs, without taking into account the fact that we are beings in relationship with others and with God. The perspective of transcendent values consists precisely in broadening the horizons of people’s lives, giving new meaning to everyday life: a typical example is that of love/agape, which comes from above.
I have often accompanied people on the path to true liberation and resurrection, precisely in the integration between the human and the spiritual. Each person is continually propelled forward: our gaze constantly looks beyond the immediate horizon of what lies ahead; it is natural to look to the future, to dream, to make plans. However, this fundamental and vital awareness is particularly fragile today. I see this in both adults and young people.
The relation between the past, the present and the future
It is not enough to live in the present moment, even though we know that this can be very beneficial for our personal well-being and mental and physical health. Today, we need to re-establish the relationship between the past, the present and the future, and this is achieved through relationships, through the handing down of experience from those who came before us to those who will come after us.
Brother Roger of Taizé wrote and spoke extensively about ‘God’s today’, his concern being to be able to ‘live God’s today in the dynamic of the provisional’. Brother Roger’s reflections give a new perspective to the meaning of living in the present moment in spiritual experience, which opens up a relational perspective with the God of Life that broadens the horizons of our daily lives. Indeed, Christian spiritual experience has always valued the present in a broader and deeper perspective, and spiritual authors themselves have also valued the body and physicality, integrated into the affective relationship with the Lord Jesus (cf. Saint Ignatius). Current mind-body approaches can enrich this spiritual tradition.
As Helper Sister
In particular, the charism of Mary of Providence inspires my personal experience as I listen to many people every day: the Paschal mystery is truly at the centre of every person’s life, it is also the root of all hope. The suffering and death of a part of ourselves are not the last word! We are made for a full life that begins here and will continue in the hereafter!
