Ep 2: Identity & Universal Humanity

In this episode of Walk the Line Podcast, Ives Wittman talks about how he helps people, develop deep connections with themselves, with others, or with a higher power.Episode TranscriptSo I've could you tell me a little bit more about that? The identity issue that would be thinking about recently. What's your take on it?So in my experience working as a counselor, especially and, you know, even in other areas of my life, I've worked with a lot of individuals from a lot of different backgrounds. So I've worked with individuals from very different places, Africa, Eastern Europe, India Pakistan, Central America, even in Far, East Asia, Vietnam. Cambodia, and some of the things that I'm realizing is in the culture today. It's really important to be aware and acknowledge someone's cultural background and to try to understand where they're coming from their culture and this is a part of their identity. And what I've come to learn, is those pieces of their identity, those pieces of their life, how they've kind of frame themselves and to find themselves,Are in and of themselves, sort of part of it, and part of their veneer. And some of that goes, very deep Beyond being a veneer. And what I like to see and what I've noticed over time is there is an element of a universal Humanity that start to show up with people. This means that we all sort of end up at the same place in some ways at the core and root of what we are looking at.My work is about helping people, develop deep connection with themselves with others, may be a higher power.And also a depth of being so that they fully can Plumb the depths of their core of who they are. So the universal Humanity, ideas it at the core there. I believe that in many ways were contending with similar issues of which culture and gender and race andEthnicity religion. All these things play a role that shape and conform it along with our biology.So what I was discussing recently was, I've had this happen a couple times and it has happened recently with a couple of African-American clients where they are sharing a story about their life. May be from Africa, they may be from the inner city of New York yet. What starts to happen is in this case, both of these men were sharing about there.Relationships with their fathers.And the idea here in my work is one of the ways we come at this as we all sort of pick up a script about how we're supposed to live our life and something that I ran into a phrase or an idea. Randall couple years ago at one of my counselors offices. Was when you're writing the story of your life make sure you're the one holding the pen.Now, that's difficult because, you know, as we're growing up, you know, we are influenced by pretty powerful people. So nonetheless, this situation showed up with these men's fathers and one in particular was attempting to live out a particular way of life in his profession, how we saw himself through what his father wanted for him now. Present seems pretty simplistic.You know, pretty easy to pick up, make sense, yet it becomes a very deep operative inside of us. That's beyond. Just we get it in our head. It becomes part of our instinctual being or emotional being if it can even tap into our heart. So these things are very wetted us and we have a particular type of loyalty to these scripts and to the people who have sort of expose dust to their way of being and thenTheir definition of us. So this man's story became my story to in this way, because I also had a relationship with my father. And he was extremely demanding in a particular way. He wanted me to show up for myself and how I wanted to be make my way into the world for me for him, that I became a doctor. And that exerted, all kinds of other pressures school. And that was a big one.Getting certain types of crates. So this impacted a lot of part of my story andPart of trauma, emotional, trauma is being pushed into being something. You aren't.And most people, I would say doing this work of me have had to fit themselves into a square box and there may be around bag and over time, this can wear someone down and there's a lot of shame that can start showing up because of the fact that they aren't abiding by the family script, or the cultural script.One thing that seems to me to be and I would love to know from your perspective. This is just an impression or not, but it seems to me that this, this sort of issue that you described especially what in real in relation to Identity. It's very, it's a very recent issue or at least theThe abundance of cases seem to be very recent, is that true? Well, they awareness of it is, definitely now.Surely become a deluge and it's important. And I don't intend to disparage, it trust me because I don't think the emphasis was placed on this for many years in this way, for sure.And I think what's been good about this