The WellMind Method
The root of pain is often trauma, which can affect our ability to feel lovable and to love others. More than half of all people have experienced significant trauma in their lives. Whether or not you have experienced significant trauma, the WellMind Method is designed to help you heal, recover, and flourish. It provides the tools you need to live a healthier, happier life filled with joy!
The WellMind Method can be summed up in a simple three-step practice—though it is not so simple and requires consistent, persistent practice over a lifetime:
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Ask, “What is this?” (Attend to what you are experiencing)
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Affirm, “This is sacred.” (Appreciate the full experience of life)
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Ask, “What would love do?” (Act with love)
You practice these steps alongside meditative and contemplative exercises that cultivate mindfulness and appreciation.
This practice works.
Extensive research shows that the three steps of the WellMind Method help people heal. However, if you have experienced severe trauma or neglect, or have a mental illness, you may need to pair your practice of the WellMind Method with professional medical treatment.
The WellMind Method requires time and effort, but if you are committed, you can heal and transform your life for the better!
About Awakening Therapy
Dr. McGee has developed a contemplative, relational approach to healing and recovery called Awakening Therapy. This method of growth and transformation is based on cultivating loving awareness and living a life guided by love. The compassion, wisdom, and clarity that arise from cultivating loving awareness help people recognize the causes of their suffering and understand what steps are needed to reduce it and live a more loving life.
“Awakening” also refers to the spiritual realization that each of us is a small but sacred part of a greater reality. People who experience awakening often feel a sense of oneness, wholeness, gratitude, peace, and reverence. Awakening can support healing from addiction and trauma, as well as other psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety. While awakening cannot be willed, Dr. McGee guides and supports people through practices that cultivate this awareness.
The 3 A’s of Awakening:
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Attending
Paying careful attention to this eternal and ever-changing moment, combined with deep inquiry—both internally and externally—into the conditions that give rise to our experiences, the experiences of others, our actions, and the consequences of those actions. We attend by asking, moment by moment, “What is this?” Through this practice, we cultivate awareness and deepen our understanding of who we are, our conditioning, others, and the nature of Reality.
2
Appreciating
Appreciation naturally arises from the enhanced awareness developed through attending. Appreciation refers both to a deep understanding of ourselves, others, and the nature of things, and to a recognition of the sacredness of all things. The appreciation that emerges from attending fosters the falling away of toxic judgments of ourselves and others, as judgment is replaced by discernment, compassion, and forgiveness. We can cultivate appreciative attending by reminding ourselves that we, others, and this moment are all sacred. Through the practice of appreciative attending—or what some call loving awareness—reverence and wisdom arise.
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Acting with love
The reverence and wisdom generated by appreciative attending inspire and enable us to love skillfully—to act in ways that benefit ourselves, others, and all of life. We put this into practice by repeatedly asking, “What would love do?”
A large body of evidence from both spiritual traditions and psychological literature confirms the effectiveness of “The 3 A’s of Awakening” for healing and for realizing a life of love.
However, these practices alone may not be sufficient to heal a love wound. If you have experienced severe trauma or neglect, or have a mental illness, it is important to pair your practice of the 3 A’s with professional treatment.
Are you ready to practice “The 3 A’s of Awakening”?