I've never been a practicing Buddhist but did see a therapist that incorporated Zen into his overall framework. I stopped seeing him after some time, because I realized while he was effective in helping me understand things from my past/childhood and how they were manifesting now, those didn't lead to actual answers, and when I'd press on this point, it'd end in some sort of parable that I realized was similar to the thought ending cliches I grew up around in an evangelical family.
For many people, the first step in accepting past/childhood experiences is recognizing them and how they manifest now. You can’t let go until you’ve recognized and accepted. So you’re most of the way towards letting them go.
You're saying recognition is a necessary condition and jasonwatkinspdx is saying that it isn't a sufficient condition. There's no contradiction there. I would say you're both right. The big question is what is a sufficient condition.
Sure — but a good therapist will not only teach you the mindfulness portion, but the redirection portion where you retrain your responses. (Including workbooks with exercises to do just that.)
question is - what answers could there be. one had a traumatic experience as a child. accepting this and moving on - I would say - is about the only real "answer". parables can help get there by personifying / objectifying a subjective / abstract / emotional experience. I don't know if this is true - but that's my take of such as of now.
