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Tag Archives: consciousness

Clinical Assumptions and its effects!

26 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by Tahereh Barati, PhD in Articles

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Aboriginal Culture, abuse, Better Future, Clinical responsibility, consciousness, Human dignity, Indigenous Culutre, political system, Professionalism, Social Work, Social Workers, The Children's court case, Trauma, University of Toronto

Human beings are wired to make assumptions about self, others and the world around. Making assumptions is a step towards making self safe, understanding and aware of what is happening around us.  Assumptions are part of human development and growth. Assumptions allow us to receive information knowledge and then process them internally and relationally.

Assumptions don’t get created by themselves; they are created and recreated in a network of people and they are reinforced in particular ways to serve some purposes and goals. Assumptions need to be tested constantly. When they are not tested and are taken as ‘truth’, they harm ourselves and others.

Yesterday, I attended the 100 years of Social Work profession at University of Toronto, 100 years of offering education, training and research.  In this symposium, I heard stories regarding significant impacts of clinical/political assumptions on aboriginal/ indigenous children and families in the past 100 years.  Speakers like Alanis Obomsawin and Cindy Blackstock reflected back on how political agendas and clinical assumptions joined and supported one another throughout the history. They shed light on how this marriage led to miscarriage of justices and ongoing injustice that destroyed indigenous cultures and harmed generations of people.

We, as professionals, have to constantly practice critical thinking and question what is going around us to be able to effectively provide services to our clients.  When we become complacent and when we allow our consciousness to be compromised, our ability to examine/question our personal/ clinical assumptions is minimized. This reduction will facilitate conditions for further experience of trauma and harm in people’s lives.

Now it is time to do something about the way the past was shaped by our colleagues. It is up to us to shape our future differently and not to repeat what other professionals did in the past.  Let’s stop the history from repeating itself.  The only things we need are our consciousness and critical thinking. Let’s work together to make a better future for all!

Happy Possibilities!

Tahereh Barati

 

 

 

 

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Gifts of Spiritual Journey 7!

18 Friday Oct 2013

Posted by Tahereh Barati, PhD in Articles

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

attention, awareness, Backpacking, Carrying our own baggages, consciousness, Letting go of, Life Journey, presence, Spiritual journey, symbolism

In this journey, my backpack was my life.  Everything inside the backpack was important to me.  The more i walked, the more i realized the importance of what i was carrying or what i needed to let go of.

Backpack is a symbolic analogy for what we carry in our life on a daily basis; memories from past, childhood, and relationships with parents, friends, coworkers and partners. During the course of life, there is a lot thrown at us and we automatically collect and put them in our backpack.  We often claim what we mentally or physically carry in our life as our own belonging. Are they?

In this journey I learned that no one else is going to carry my backpack for me; i have to learn to befriend with my own backpack and choose what to carry and what not to. Eventually, It is up to us to make our backpack lighter or heavier in this unpaved road of life.

When we begin to evaluate what we carry, something magnificent happens. When we choose what to carry and what not to, we learn to be OK with what is in the backpack. Acceptance, self -acceptance and self -worth begin to shape; expectations begin to fade away; patience and tolerance become more available; and appreciation and support become more essential in life journey.

Therefore, one learns to become further responsible for his/her own backpack and carry it peacefully without any complaints and resentment. My body learned to be accustomed to its weight and my commitment to carry my own backpack became stronger day after day.

Carrying our own backpack requires balance, consciousness, and awareness. It is about becoming comfortable with letting go of what is not needed. It is about negotiating memories/ items – what to keep and what to let go of; it is about allowing ourselves to fly into uncharted territories with the backpack we carry.

Happy Possibilities!

Tahereh Barati, M.A, RMFT

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Someone said Evil Eye! What is it?

08 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by Tahereh Barati, PhD in Articles, Reflection

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

awareness, consciousness, energy, negative energy, relational beings, relational ethics, relational exchange, relational responsibilities, relationships

I had a lovely talk with a friend who was very excited about her recent achievements. As she was sharing her success stories, she mentioned her worries for the presence of ‘evil eye’ in relationships.  She said sometimes people are not happy about one’s achievement; their unhappy feelings cause one not to be able to continue what she plans to achieve in life. She called that as ‘evil eye’ – negativity that prevents people from getting what they try hard for…

The word ‘evil eye’ got my attention; I began to think more about its origin and how it became part of human relationship, what it means, and if it really exist.

The more i thought of it, the more it became a fascinating subject, and the more questions pop up in my mind. For instance,  Is it from our negative thought about others? Or is it something that exchanged between people? …

I see ‘evil eye’ as a ‘negative energy’ that forms in relationship.  This energy  is co-constructed as we speak and share ideas and stories. I believe everything has an impact… Sharing success stories impact people; some may like, some may dislike, some may become more curious and some may become indifferent to what we share with them. …

Since everything has an impact, we affect one another in every relational transactions. We are influenced by energy exchanged between us; we mutually influence one another by our words, positions, and postures that we take in relation to what is being exchanged.

We (you and I) are part of this exchange; the way we share, the way we tell our stories, the way we position ourselves to one another, the way we non-verbally express ourselves contribute to responses that we give to one another.

To reduce ‘the impact of ‘evil eye’ – what i call ‘relational negative energy’- on our relationship, it is important to become more aware of how we share and what words/ posture we take when expressing our success stories.  When we look closely into our contribution to the reproduction of ‘negative energy’, we become more mindful of our way of telling and re-telling and consequently its impact on others. This might be a way to immune our relationship from this negative energy.

Happy Possibilities,

Tahereh Barati, M.A, RMFT

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