When I read clients of all ages and backgrounds, what they are mostly looking for is to feel safe in a broken reality which incorporates fear into the equation at every turn. People suffer from anxiety disorders, mental illnesses and loss of control. Many of these people have never felt safe and never will.
There are different ways to feel safe ... from being loved and protected, to knowing that you have enough money to live comfortably and free to make your own decisions, to feeling accepted for who you are, to believing there is a God who protects you. The way the world is evolving, people want to feel safe but worry about things both personal and global.
Changes on all fronts create fear on a daily basis. We can't help but notice what's going on with immigration today, a problem with no resolution. Criticism is heating up over the Trump administration's decision to separate children from parents who cross the border into the US illegally. Thursday rallies against it were held across the country. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tried to use the Bible to justify the policy, but that only seemed to tick people off more. I watched an NBC report about children being held like prisoners in a detention center in Texas. CNN's Bob Ortega went inside the largest facility where children are being held. It's in a former Walmart superstore in Brownsville, Texas, and holds almost 1,500 kids. Religious groups have spoken out against the policy, and now medical organizations are sounding the alarm as well. The problem is the inability of the United States to protect and care for not only many of its own citizens but undocumented immigrants who come from the worst of cultures in hopes of finding a better life and feeling safe. Not in the prison of physical reality.
Feeling safe in an area threaten by natural disasters and severe climate change - takes safety out of the equation - knowing that any day your world could blow up. This seems to be part of shaking reality loose and finding safety in a way no longer part of the physical equation.
Feeling safe is instinctual and goes all the way back to the moment of birth. During childhood there are people in our lives who make us feel safe and protected if we are lucky. Sunday, on Father's Day, many honor and/or remember a man in our lives who made us feel safe. The loss of that person is often tragic and can never be replaced.
