Edgewater: Where Spiritual and Material Realms Meet. Part I

August 15, 2020 Valerie Beltran

I have a theory about material possessions and our connection to spirituality. When we feel connected to spirituality, we feel the interconnectedness of all things; but, there’s usually a focus on all living things. Instead, I believe this connection extends to material possessions as well. Let me give an example to explain what I mean.

I’ve been fairly minimalistic and anti-consumerist my entire life, but I’ve never formally articulated the connection I feel between non-consumerism and spirituality.

I admit I have racist moments, and you should too. A letter to other well-intentioned White progressives

June 14, 2020 Valerie Beltran

These progressive White people can be the most harmful in perpetuating racism because they think they’re done doing their work. They think they get it, that they’re the choir to whom anti-racist people are preaching, and instead of searching themselves for micro-aggressions they unintentionally commit, they use their already-uplifted voices to showcase how ‘woke’ they are.

I can definitely be one of these progressive White people. I remember the moment I epitomized this idea:

COVID-19 Epiphany: happiness vs. infatuation (from a teen’s perspective)

May 17, 2020 Valerie Beltran

Now, I’m happy with who I am. And not because some boy or an audience is giving me approval. I’m happy with myself, and that’s all that matters — I’m not chasing approval from anyone anymore.

Now that the cycle has been forced to stop (I can’t play any shows or see anyone in person, let alone a boy I have a crush on), there’s nothing to look forward to. Infatuation was always because of this or that — but that’s not what happiness is at all. Happiness is something deeper, that doesn’t come from anyone else, and can’t be taken away by anyone else.

Now, happiness doesn’t feel temporary anymore — no longer like an hour glass with sand coming out.

It’s not like I’ll always feel this way all day everyday, but I know I can always go back to this.

Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19

March 21, 2020 Valerie Beltran

Valerie Beltrán Psychotherapy, specializing in trauma therapy (EMDR), couples therapy (including kink & polyamory), and child therapy; with offices in Lafayette, CA and Danville, CA. Free consultations and sliding scale. Accepts some insurance. …

We’re all in this together

As more of us start to get tested, we’ll begin the necessary -- yet frightening -- process of tracing our possible contact with those who test positive. There will be the tendency to point fingers, especially, as we have seen, at Asian Americans.

You have the choice: will you be xenophobic? Resentful? Blaming? Will you feed into the political divide currently raging in our country?

Liberal, conservative, we’re all in this together. This virus affects all of us, regardless of our skin color or political preference. This can unite us or divide us. We all get to choose which.

Make the right choice.

An Integral Approach to COVID-19

February 1, 2020 Valerie Beltran

For several years, Ken Wilber (creator of Integral Theory), has been talking about how close to 10% of the world's population is reaching the next stage of psychological development (2nd tier consciousness for any Integralists out there), which creates a tipping point: with that much of the population at that developmental stage, that stage's values will start to be infused in our world's systems.

Anyone who studies developmental psychology knows that crises (such as this virus) act as fulcrums to launch us to the next stage of development (breakdown > breakthrough). I believe this is the exact thing our species needs to launch us to our next stage of development, which will be an unprecedented shift because it's a whole different tier of consciousness.