5 Gestalt Techniques For Personal Growth

Gestalt technologies help us focus on our lives in the present, encouraging us to become self-fulfilling,  to make better decisions, and to grow on a personal level in a freer way, always meeting our needs.

We all have the right to build the kind of life we ​​want, and this approach – with clear humanistic influences – urges us to do so.

Fritz Perls, a pioneer of Gestalt therapy, or character therapy, said that  our main suffering as human beings is the gap we open between the present and the future. Sometimes our minds go faster than life itself and that is why we expect different things.

We become obsessed with things that have not yet happened. And almost without us even realizing it, we fill ourselves with fear, anxiety, and other painful things.

One of the goals of Gestalt technologies is to help us understand our problems in a general, unified way. In parts, but as a whole. In this way, instead of a person worrying about why something might be happening, or what is causing it,  this perspective calls for a focus on understanding how these circumstances affect us.

We need to understand that the picture we have of the past or the future is based entirely on how we live in the present. Gestalt technologies have this and other goals to encourage us toward personal growth.

They also help us reach a level of awareness of who we are, what we feel, and what we need, and these techniques help us put them into practice responsibly.

Gestalt techniques encourage personal growth

Gestalt psychotherapy techniques basically encompass what Fritz Perls called “rules and games.” These are strategies – dynamic, original and diverse – that try to make us more aware of the world around us to help us overcome resistance and facilitate our growth.

Let’s look at a few examples…

1. Unresolved issues

Unresolved problems refer to past events that affect our present. They mean uncontrollable emotions, blocked emotions, personal nodes that prevent us from living life to the fullest, right now.

According to character therapy, we all have unresolved issues with our friends, relatives, ex-partners, and deceased loved ones.

• We must not shy away from them. Instead, we need to be able to illuminate these feelings so that we can let go of suffering, loss, and even resentment.
• To do this, we can perform simulation, reconsideration of the mental process, confrontation, and farewell.
• We can bring a person to life and express everything we have to say to him. We will find our pain, express our feelings of sadness, guilt, or bitterness. Then once we have uncovered and identified them, we can let go of them. Then we can close this circle and move on.

2. Dialogue technology: empty chair

Many recognize this technology. This technique is well known, mostly useful, and represents the core of the Gestalt really well.

Sometimes it is used as a way to face the imaginary predictions we have about other people. The goal of this is to trigger the grief process or resolve traumas.

But for personal growth, it has another purpose: to initiate an internal dialogue in which we play “our opposites.” Using this we can talk to ourselves.

On our other hand, we place all those things that cause a feeling of discomfort. On the other hand, we put those half of us who want to face uncomfortable things in order to live a more productive, free and open life. Here’s how we do this:

• I’m so tired, I don’t have any strength.
• You take my strength away from me again, you take up too much space in my life. Tell me what’s really bothering you.
• I don’t like myself. Nor do I like my life.

• Okay, instead of complaining, tell me what you would do to be better.

3. I am responsible

One of the best Gestalt techniques is the game of “taking responsibility”. It may seem simple, but it requires a great deal of dedication. It is designed to help us be more aware of what is going on within us. To detect it, to accept it, and then to encourage more active use using these changes. 

Here is a brief example:

“My head hurts and my stomach hurts. I know I think too much and am stressed out. I am responsible for this, and I accept that I need to change things. ”

“I understand I have a voice. I am responsible for speaking honestly, without fear, and for respecting others and myself. ”

4. Practice continuity of consciousness

In Gestalt therapy, the Therapist works on how the person experiences. Not about why a person experiences. The therapist wants to understand how the patient encounters problems and how he or she lives with them; how he feels them, and how he internalizes them.

To do this, the therapist must make room to understand what the patient’s feelings and current feelings are. This information is brought out by asking things like, “tell me what you feel,” “tell me where you feel this,” “explain to me what you can see inside you right now.”

We can also perform this technique ourselves. We can practice the continuity of consciousness, to initiate every feeling and thought.

It’s not about looking through your fingers or internalizing them. It’s about giving light, as well as keeping them present in our thoughts.

5. Turn your question into insurance

This is the next of the Gestalt techniques that may seem really simple at first. But this is a really valuable therapy. This helps us to proclaim internal realities and mobilize resources.

How can we do this? It is easy. We have all experienced the days when we say to ourselves, “Why do I really feel this way? Why do I feel so helpless and powerless? ”

Character therapy suggests the following: turn questions into self-insurance. Let’s look at a few examples:

• Why do I feel so bad today? Today I feel bad. I’m going to change that feeling, and tomorrow I’m going to feel better.
• Why do I feel like my boyfriend has become distant? My boyfriend is distant. I’m going to ask him if he’s bothered by anything.

Finally, Gestalt techniques are as original as they are practical when it comes to helping ourselves connect with our needs. They also urge us to take responsibility. They urge us to be bold with what we feel  and to act accordingly to grow.

Why not put these doctrines into practice? They work.