Social Psychologist & Personal Advisor

Dr Matt's Approach
In A Nutshell

Adapting Language to Each Client
by Matt Moody, Ph.D. 

Because I work with clients from all over the United States and Canada, my clients inevitably will possess varying value systems. So when I first talk with clients, I carefully discern their belief perspectives and then I proceed to speak the Language of that perspective.

The foundational premise of my approach is based upon each client having had an experience of what some call "conscience," others call "Spirit," and still others call "matters of the heart." I've never yet worked with a client who has not experienced a "prompting of the heart."

My counseling paradigm is based upon the assumption that each Human Being actually knows what is best -- that Truth resides within -- and they simply need to be true to their guiding intuitions of heart.

I've actually counseled with atheists using the "heart" metaphor, and they have resonated with it -- for whatever "heart" meant to them. I begin by using a general Language that will work with every kind of person and value system. Ironically, though I have strong views about the New Age Movement, I have effectively worked with New Agers too -- who tend to be "spiritual" but not formally "religious."

When I perceive that a client is a Bible-Believer, then I bring the teachings of the Bible to buttress the ideas that I teach. And if a client is a latter-day saint, then I bring the teachings of that belief perspective to support principles that have proven, over and over, to bring about productive change for all people, regardless of the particulars of their value system.

From the Heart, not the Head!

You can only change your way of thinking when you change your way of being. Changing who you are is a metamorphosis of character that initiates from the Heart and not the Head. An Old Testament Proverb encourages: "Keep thy heart with all diligence;for out of it are the issues of life."

Here is your Response-Ability: All the thoughts, words, and deeds that you are predisposed to thinking, saying, and doing, combined with all the emotional tone and intention that infuse those thoughts, words, and deeds -- all these are yours. Further, the responses and reactions that come out of you under compelling constraints reveal the core of your character.

Your willingness to own Response-Ability for your thinkings, feelings, and doings is a Foundation from which Change can occur.

Letting ME Emerge

We begin our lives in innocence. Beings of goodness, love, and light. Observe a young child: pure innocence! No prejudice, no grudges, and no anxiety, . . . just joyful, playful, uninhibited happiness. From birth, not even a shadow of darkness exists in these clean and clear creatures called . . . "bundles of joy." In a new-born babe, there is only love and light. That's a child! And we all began that way.

As we grow older, we gradually lose our connection to pure innocence, yet it is there . . . waiting to be recovered. Recapturing our Inner Innocence is a key to becoming a new kind of creature, but not just a new creature different from your former self, rather a re-newed creature -- for you are returning to who you are from your beginnings, recovering your original, innocent self.

Changing Your Stripes means recovering the you that is true from your core. And as you are renewed, you begin to see the world through new eyes. You see a new view that comes alive to Life's highest purpose!

The Light of Innocence

When I am physically cold, if I move from the shadows of darkness into the rays of the sun, I become warm again, naturally and consistently. When cold, the Sun warms me as I walk into the Light. When my soul is cold, . . . chilled with the bitterness of resentment and blame, I can move from the shadows of dark emotions into the Light of Inner Innocence, and there I find a gentle contentment that melts my cold emotions. Like the shining rays of the Sun, the Light within illuminates the way. The Light of Innocence guides me to the warmth of Inner Peace.

The way to healing and happiness requires the development of discernment, a quiet sensitivity. Only when I hear and heed the gentle whisperings of the Light within can I find the path of recovery. But darkness makes me deaf: Walk in the shadows of darkness and the chill of agitated emotions grow colder, . . . and worse, I cannot clearly hear the whisperings of Light; they are muffled by the confusion of my own mind -- drowned by a relentless inner dialogue of figuring, reasoning, and rationalizing.

The Voice of Light is heard in the Light.
I must move from the shadows and find
a place where warmth and peace caress me.
Walk in the Light and I am warmed by peaceful radiance.
Walk in the Light and I can clearly hear
the Whisperings of Light.

As I align myself to my own sense of what is good, my Intuitions of Innocence, I return to the way I began, balance and harmony is restored. Being True means I am aligned to the Light of Innocence. Coming into that warm and peaceful Light naturally relieves me from the chill of darkness: cold emotions depart, . . . clarity enters in.

A Simple Solution: Un-Doing

You've heard the phrase "this will be their undoing." Typically, an undoing is a bad thing: unraveling, falling apart, or breaking up -- all these are bad. But consider a type of undoing that is good. The truth is that recovering early innocence is actually more a matter of undoing, . . . .than of doing. In the process of Changing Your Stripes, you don't do it: You Un-Do It!

Solutions could be pursued with the complexity of what we "think" we need to accomplish: Investing mental energies into dozens of things to "do" in an arduous effort to become prominent or magnificent, "a mover and a shaker." But this is to begin wrong and enter into the issue incorrectly! Instead, our focus need only be on the things that require Un-Doing. One step at a time, line upon line, we simply need to Un-Do the NEXT thing.

Letting the Real Me Emerge is not something
I "make" happen, but something I "let" happen,
Recovery flows as I Un-Do darkness and deception.
The Whisperings of Light will lead the way.
I must yield my will . . . to the Light.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Enriching Family History Stories with Vital & Census Information
Teaching People How To Do Family History Research Online
Determined and Dependable: Dr Matt's Family Heritage
Premise for Family History Therapy: Why It Works
Who was Marilyn Monroe's Biological Father?
Excerpts from Changing Your Stripes
Tell-Tale Signs of Betrayal

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Other Articles of Interest:   New Age Philosophy: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Doing Genealogy at FamilySearch.org
Principles of Emotional Healing

* * * * * * *

The Greatest Prize
for Life's labors isn't
in material possessions
or impressive accomplishments,
but in the progress of personal character.
You labor for your own becoming, this is your richest reward.
Who You Become is your greatest possession,
make it your Masterpiece!
~ Changing Your Stripes, 2nd Edition, p. 274 

The book, "Changing Your Stripes" presents principles for getting out of
the ditch in which you've been dumped (the difficulties of which you are a victim), and
the ditch in which you've jumped (the difficulties for which you volunteer).

"Mastering a challenging situation
is ultimately a matter of
mastering yourself!"
~ Matt Moody 

"Changing Your Stripes," teaches you the principles that lead to lasting change,
making you a new kind of creature capable of communicating
with calm, even as storms of contention swirl.

If these principles resonate and ring true,
then . . . this book is for you!

Sold Exclusively
through this website

Changing Your Stripes is a
unique reference book that will help
you understand, . . . and solve all of
Life's ever-appearing problems.
Here are more reasons to buy
Changing Your Stripes

Social Psychologist & Personal Advisor