Is it ever truly possible to heal from the effects of having a less-than-nurturing or even fully absent father? In this episode of The Man Rules podcast, Dan and guest Rick Belden share their own experiences with the complex emotional scarring of the father wound.
No matter how deep the trauma, it IS possible to reach freedom from your past and even sometimes forgiveness.
Here are three tips that could help you begin your own journey to wholeness.
Practical and Tactical Tips
- Do an exercise called, “What am I feeling and where am I feeling it?” several times a day.
- Keep a journal for 30 days. Fill a page or two a day with thoughts and memories you have about your childhood and your father.
- Humanize your father by learning what you can about his life. (Look through old photos and high school yearbooks, visit his childhood home, etc.)
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About Our Guest
Rick Belden is a respected explorer and chronicler of the psychology and inner lives of men. He has been writing for most of his life and has been using creative expression, dreamwork, personal mythology, and listening to the body as tools for self-healing since 1989.
His book, Iron Man Family Outing: Poems about Transition into a More Conscious Manhood, is widely used in the United States and internationally by therapists, counselors, and men’s groups as an aid in the exploration of masculine psychology and men’s issues, and as a resource for men who grew up in dysfunctional, abusive, or neglectful family systems.
Rick’s poetry and essays have appeared in multiple books and on numerous websites around the world, reaching an international audience of many thousands of men and women. He helps men who are feeling stuck get their lives moving again by drawing on over 25 years of experience exploring men’s issues, masculine psychology, and recovery from abuse.
He lives in Austin, Texas.
Mentioned in This Episode
Poem: My Father’s Body
