The Dr. Zwig Show

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction both are transformed.” - C.G. Jung. This episode guides you through a practical exercise for working on your relationship. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Being objective about yourself isn’t easy. You need a method to observe and facilitate your inner processes in a neutral, non-ideological way. Conventional psychology and psychiatry fail miserably at this but you can use processing methods to achieve it. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A practical exercise in which you video yourself talking about a problem, tap into a new, more objective perception of your issue, and give yourself some sage advice. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Relationship conflict often arises when people become stuck in static roles—dramatic and calm, extroverted and introverted, spiritual and mundane, pragmatic and idealistic, leader and follower, doctor and patient, etc. Switching roles is a powerful change agent. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Learn the 3 levels of relationship work and do this practical exercise for transforming conflict. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Relationships get stuck when one or both people aren’t conscious of their deeper feelings and needs. Visualization is a powerful method for tapping into your subconscious where these unknown parts of yourself reside. Connecting with them brings solutions and change to conflict and pain. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A practical exercise for processing a relationship problem. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Obstacles are meaningful guideposts, not meaningless blocks. You encounter them in order to raise your awareness, expand your mindset, and redirect your actions. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

We can know exactly what our problem is and how to solve it but still be unable to do it. Why? We have unconscious fears and resistances. This episode is a practical exercise that shows you how to work through these blocks so you can connect with the positive changes trying to come forth in your life. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A life obstacle causes us pain but it contains a positive power we can harness for our growth and success. Learn how to do this in a practical exercise. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The ancient martial art known as Aikido can teach us a lot about transforming our problems. Aikido doesn’t use techniques to battle an opponent directly but rather to redirect its energy and use it to transform the situation. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Our fears create a psychological barrier between who we are and who we’re meant to be. Some of our fears are known but are difficult to overcome. Others are unconscious; we automatically resist and block our own growth without even realizing. Fear is one of our most uncomfortable experiences but it holds the keys to our healing and growth. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

If you only focus on what’s negative in your life you miss the fact that your symptoms, pain, and conflict contain meaningful messages. These messages manifest as problems because they’re blocked from your awareness. They aren't intrinsically negative but rather are symptomatic expressions of your deeper self trying to come to consciousness. Get fixated on this process, not on its momentary negative manifestation. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

We usually try to avoid, suppress, or manage the negatives in our lives. But within them lies our positive power trying to come forth. In order to discover it we have to explore and process the “poison” in our problem, not run from it. This is a practical exercise. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Therapy is music and music is therapy. They both help us connect with the deeper feelings and thoughts that reside in us but we aren’t aware of. They bring to the surface what’s hiding in the shadows of our psyche. This episode explores the interconnections between life problems, psychotherapy, music, physics, mathematics, and process! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A life problem contains a victimizing power. To transform it you must get out of your identification with the victim and inhabit the victimizer’s energy. By doing so, you can transform it into positive power. This is a practical exercise. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your life problems contain meaningful information for your growth. To tap into this information, you have to amplify and process your symptoms, not just try to get rid of them. This requires feeling your distress MORE, not LESS, studying and unfolding it, and exposing its underlying story. Rather than trying to simulate contentment by masking your pain, explore and process what's bothering you. This leads to true change and healing. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The disease model of mental health focuses on suppressing symptoms just like in physical medicine. But this misses the whole point of having a life problem. Distress / dysfunction contains a meaningful message of change and growth. In order to discover and act upon this message you have to strategically amplify, not reduce, your symptoms. This brings the contents of your process to consciousness so you can connect with the changes trying to come forth and transform the issue. Today’s episode guides you through an exercise for doing this. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your mind doesn’t function in a random way; it’s structured by your psychology. Your attention automatically gravitates toward whatever reflects your psychology back to you. The things you get distracted by, attracted to, or repelled by, are trying to make you more aware of yourself. The symptoms of “ADHD” don’t constitute an “illness”; they’re trying to bring your attention to your deeper story. They need to be processed and transformed, not suppressed. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your mind functions according to two things—your conscious intentions, and your subconscious processes. The things in your environment that catch or disturb your attention (an event, an object, a shape, a color, a person, a sound, a sign, a song, etc.) aren’t random; they’re structured by the internal honing mechanism of your subconscious which always seeks to make itself conscious by intruding into your awareness. It continually searches for something that can reflect your process back to you. The world is your mirror. In this episode, I show you how to use whatever catches or disturbs your attention as your path to healing, change, and growth! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The conventional view of life obstacles is that they serve no purpose other than to irritate and frustrate us. Therefore, we should do everything we can to immediately overcome them. This is a shallow understanding. Even though they’re painful, the things that block us contain meaningful messages meant to guide us in the right direction. This episode focuses on processing obstacles to extract and integrate their inherent wisdom. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Each of us has an imagination of our ideal self. It lives explicitly in our thoughts, or implicitly in our desires. It's an image of who we could be if we reached our full potential--an intuition of our most realized self in our inner life, relationships, work, and perhaps our spirituality. However, there are obstacles that block us from connecting with this more whole version of who we are. This exercise shows you how to identify and process these obstacles. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your inner critic isn’t just an internal thought process; it’s a part of your psyche that has its own personality and energy. Working on WHAT your critic says to you—it’s content—is important. But oftentimes this isn’t enough to transform it. You also have to work on HOW it communicates with you— its process. Your experience of it as powerful, relentless, cold, biting, etc. is a type of energy you need to integrate in a positive way. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your inner critic has two aspects: One is WHAT it says to you; this is the content of it’s speech. The other is HOW it talks to you, how it delivers that content; this is its energy, its personality. We usually focus on what the critic says and overlook the fact that it has a specific and unique way of delivering its message. This is crucial to become aware of. Why? The way your critic talks to you contains a basic human quality that you actually need! I’m not talking about its negativity but rather a certain hidden power that you need to take out of its negative context, claim as your own, and use in a positive, constructive way. This exercise shows you how to do this. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Psychology and self help teachings have it wrong by viewing the inner critic as a purely negative feature of the mind, something to try to get rid of by silencing. It’s seen as a poison of the psyche, a pathology of the soul, a sickness of our psychology. But this misses the fact that the critic's hurtful words are just its surface manifestation; behind it is something completely different—our guide to growth! The critic is only the seed, the impetus, the painful poke from our subconscious calling us to action—the beginning of a meaningful and purposeful process that’s designed to spark transformation. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your inner critic is your crucible, your calling to change and growth. Contrary to conventional wisdom the critic isn't a meaningless, negative thought pattern that must simply be silenced. It’s a raw, unprocessed voice from your subconscious that’s part of a larger story, and it’s calling you to process it. It’s a meaningful expression of your growth trying to happen. Instead avoiding it or just trying to think positive thoughts, process the negative voice! Doing so not only transforms the critic but your whole sense of yourself, as well. Today’s episode leads you through an exercise to begin doing this. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your troubles are signposts pointing to essential changes you need to make. When you avoid, suppress, or just try to get rid of your distress without getting its message you throw away vital information. What feels bad and wrong actually contains an intrinsic wisdom aimed at positive change and growth. In fact, the very issue you wish you could just zap away contains the holy grail of your life in this moment! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Within each of us is a positive emotional flow state we’re instinctually driven toward. It continually tries to get our attention. If it’s consciously perceived it manifests as authentic feelings of joy, creativity, love, personal power, spirit, a sense of freedom, etc. If it’s not in our awareness it manifests as a problem—depression, anxiety, addiction, etc.—which disturbs us in order to force a process of change that can connect us with this deeper self. One way we instinctively try to access this flow state is through music. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Songs that pop into your mind aren’t random or meaningless. They don’t suddenly appear just because you heard them recently. Like any thought, feeling, or mood that shows up “unannounced," they’re spontaneous expressions of your subconscious communicating a meaningful message. This episode leads you through an exercise that uses songs to help you connect with your deeper process—the part of you that contains solutions and directions for your life. Music isn’t only joyous, it’s also a useful methodology for understanding yourself better! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The attributes of your hero/heroine represent an image of your more awakened, evolved self. To connect with this expanded awareness and personal power you have to travel the hero’s journey. The instigator of this journey is usually some sort of life problem. Your inner process and/or outer situation make life intolerable, painful, and confusing, and this is your calling to growth and transformation. If you view your difficulties as having no meaning or purpose in your life, you miss out on your true process, your life’s calling to discover who you really are. Your troubles are meant to awaken you. That’s why they exist! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Feeling stuck in your life doesn’t mean you're bad or weak; it means you have a powerful process of growth trying to happen—a heroic calling toward your greater self. The more stuck you feel the more challenging and numinous the change that’s trying to come forth. But how can you change something that seems impossible? Enter your hero / heroine. This episode leads you through a potent exercise that uses your hero's / heroine’s qualities to help you begin to change a difficult issue. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Everyone thought my client was nuts because he had stopped talking. Three psychiatrists had given him three different diagnoses. But I didn’t approach him as someone with a “mental illness." I saw him as a young man with a powerful process trying to come to his awareness. Over several months I was able to help him totally transform his problem. He’s a great example of how we’re all beautifully ‘mad’ in our own way! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Each year billions of drug company dollars are spent on media campaigns that exploit the fact that most people don’t know how science works. These campaigns have been astonishingly successful at conveying a distorted picture of the relationship between the brain and mental health. The public consumes these ideas without being able to vet them, and then they become accepted, commonplace ways of thinking. The focus of the mental health field should be on developing and teaching methods for processing and transforming painful states of mind, not just on giving drugs and teaching coping skills. There’s way too much emphasis on “managing disease,” and too little on empowering people by giving them tools to hack into their own states of mind in order to make real change. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Even someone who obviously treats you badly reflects a process in your own psyche. The way you feel toward a person isn’t only based on outer facts; it’s rooted in your own subconscious processes. We’re all guided by inner psychological patterns and stories. Some of these are known to us and some remain out of our awareness. These very personal stories represent our individual relationship to the larger human story—one that contains everything—love, hate, peace, war, compassion, cruelty, etc.; we’re all a part of it and are all responsible for processing it. Becoming conscious of these processes within ourselves can transform our inner and outer lives. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The quality you dislike in someone is a quality in yourself you need to embrace more! What!? Yup, you need to become more like them—(obviously not literally, especially if they’re mean, abusive, racist, etc.)--but in a conscious, positive way. For example, being irritated at someone’s selfishness means you need to be more “selfish” by following your own needs—not in an insensitive way like the other person may being doing it, but in an aware, constructive way. Or, say you dislike someone who uses their power to oppress and hurt people. Their behavior is awful but the question is, how can you use your own power in a positive way? This episode shows you how to process what bothers you about people (including the really bad stuff) and use it for your personal growth. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

We project our unrecognized, unlived inner awesomeness onto other people and then feel bad that they possess these great qualities instead of us. It’s such an unconscious process that we have no idea that what we’re jealous of is actually something within ourselves we haven’t yet become conscious of! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The daily barrage of images of success and perfection shown online and on TV can make you feel depressed and resentful that you don’t possess what these lucky folks seem to have. But what if your envy of these people isn’t just a negative, painful feeling you have to deal with? What if it's actually a meaningful process that can show you the path to enlightenment!? The qualities in people that you wish you had are actually projections of your own unrealized awesomeness! In this episode I guide listeners through an exercise to connect with this inner power. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The current paradigm in psychology and psychiatry is deeply flawed. A few years ago an international review study in which 270 researchers on five continents, including the U.S., examined a hundred research reports in the most prestigious psychology journals, and what they discovered was shocking: Only 36% percent of the findings held up when the experiments were redone. If you ask researchers anywhere in the world whether they have a problem reproducing experiments in biology, chemistry, or physics, they’ll tell you, no. So, what’s up with psychology? Unlike all other fields of science, psychology is unique in that the human mind is both subject and object. In other words, the object being studied—the mind—is the same thing as that which is studying it—the mind. The mind is studying itself. The result is that objectivity in psychology is subjective! In order to get around this dilemma we need a process paradigm. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Attaining a sense of inner freedom is one of our core needs but this experience is often blocked or unconscious. This results in problems like addiction, depression, and anxiety. There are two ways to make your inner freedom conscious: The first is to process the negative altered states of mind your problems induce; the second is to process the positive altered states of mind you unconsciously seek through drugs, alcohol, sex, exercise, work, success, play, love, eating, sleeping, dreaming, meditation, medication, incantation, ritual, prayer, music, etc.. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A practical exercise on processing and transforming a difficult life issue. Problems that plague you over time are held in place by an unseen block to your inner freedom. The symptoms happen in order to awaken you to this block. In a sense, the problem isn’t really the point—it’s merely a catalyst to help you become more conscious of your process. Doing so helps you begin to make real change. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your deepest desires are often hidden from consciousness and manifest as unconscious forms of yearning—addiction, loneliness, depression, etc.. Processing these issues can connect you with what you really need in life which, in turn, can transform your problem. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your deepest yearnings in life represent your most fundamental needs. But oftentimes these yearnings are unconscious and manifest through issues such as addictions, illness, depression, anxiety, phobias, relationship conflicts, etc.. Connecting with these core drives and desires can help you change what’s bothering you. In this episode I guide you through a simple exercise to tap into your deepest yearnings and use this awareness to transform your issues. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The story of a thirty-nine year-old waiter who complained of chronic depressed moods despite the fact that nothing particularly depressing had occurred in his life. I helped him transform his depression by processing his inner critic (which he didn’t realize he had). Depression isn’t an “illness" to manage but rather a meaningful and purposeful personal growth process trying to happen. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

I made a bet with the director of a prestigious psych clinic that I could help his severely depressed patient by processing his depression more than the director could by prescribing medication. I won the bet ! : ) Join me today for a wide ranging discussion of how the pharmaceutical industry has fed the public false information about depression, brain chemistry, and medication. Depression is a symptom of a powerful personal growth process trying to happen, not an “illness”! drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Solving your problems requires connecting with a wise part of yourself that gives you a new way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. But this wisdom isn’t based on something you've learned in the past—you have to discover it in the present. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A simple exercise to tap into the wisdom you have (but don’t usually have access to) and use it to change a life problem. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

A rather deep, juicy, involved episode where I show how desire is the fuel for healing, growth, and freedom, and how your happy, healthy, aware self is always present within you waiting to be tapped into. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Guided exercise to transform a problem by reaccessing a joyful experience from the past and using it to solve a current issue. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The story of my client, Sandy,* who was depressed for a year following her divorce. While we were processing her sadness, she kept getting distracted by a song playing in her head. I encouraged her to focus on how the song made her feel and she had a life changing experience. Problems, symptoms, and distractions aren’t wrong—they’re meaningful processes trying to awaken you to a new awareness. (* Sandy is her pseudonym) drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

The modern world's extreme amount of external distraction disconnects us from ourselves, especially from our bodies and deeper feelings. This has deleterious effects on our well being and makes it almost impossible to process our problems. The guided body scan helps you reconnect with yourself. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig

Your psychology doesn’t only manifest through your mind, it expresses itself through your body too. In fact, the notion of mind and body as distinct entities is a misnomer since at the deepest level they’re inseparable processes. Your physiology isn’t only governed by biochemical interactions but by subconscious mental / emotional processes, as well. Psychotherapy, self help, and personal growth aren’t only about working on your thoughts and feelings; they also require processing your body experiences—symptoms, illness, and whatever else you experience physically. drzwig.com - instagram.com/drzwig - youtube.com/drzwig - facebook.com/drzwig