Buddhists talk about taking refuge in 3 things: the Buddha, the Dharma (teachings), and the Sangha (spiritual community). I wanted to chat for a moment about Sangha.
There are times when all of us are stressed, or have some loss of faith. One of the most effective things I've found in those times is Sangha, my spiritual community. This can be any group of like-minded people, who support one another. It can be through any medium (in-person, email, phone, online forum).
Sanghas I have been in have usually been clear in their intention - as a place to voice both faith and doubt; as a place to be supported and give support; as a place to lend and to borrow faith; as a place to remind and be reminded of Truth.
I think it can be easy to "go it alone" when you're in private practice. After all, we therapists sit in a room with our clients, with no backup in the moment. And we usually have no one else to be accountable to about our business results. We even have quite strict policies about discussing our cases (and from our inherent role we may develop strict policies about talking about our own pains and weaknesses).
I want to encourage anyone reading this to find spiritual support in community. In Sangha.
Peace, Your Grateful Guy
PS - I wanted to come back and add a quick thought: the concept of spiritual community certainly isn't limited to Buddhist thought. In Christian thought, fellowship and "where two or more are gathered" are well known ideas. While I am not as conversant in Islam or Judaism, I would imagine there are similar ideas there too.
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I've dealt with my mothers death recently. I wouldn't be able to survive if not for the people around me. My job, my supervisor, my husband, my colleagues from school. I've been surprised by the amount of support and connections I felt as I went through her death. Of course I was reaching out to everyone. My family is very religious and that is one benefit of religion is that there is a lot of support in cases like this.
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