progress is because we haven't yet come to the end of ourselves,
and we are interfering with God's work within us.”
~ A.W. Tozer
Family History Therapy by Dr Matt
Family History Therapy consists of Dr Matt teaching you, via telephone, how to research your family roots, and help you find and fill in your family tree. This will be our primary aim while we talk on the phone — a time dedicated to thinking about others, and not thinking of yourself.
"Whosoever will save his life shall lose it:
and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it."
~ Jesus of Nazareth
The pursuit of happiness is a paradox, the more you focus upon ME and MY happiness, the less you will be happy. Conversely, the more you forget about ME and MINE, and selflessly think about THEE and THINE, the more happiness will naturally flow to you.
"The most miserable people I know are those who are obsessed with themselves; the
happiest people I know are those who lose themselves in the service of others...
If we complain about life, it is because we are thinking only of ourselves.”
~ Gordon B. Hinckley
In the process of forgetting about ME, and instead discovering your Ancestry, you will acquire a clearer sense of who you are, and who you can become.
During the time we research your family heritage, I invite you to tell me about life's most pressing challenges in a personal email. Writing is cathartic; the process of writing out the concerns that weigh upon you enables a release of uneasy emotions and troubled thoughts.
As you write me, I will write back and point you to the specific principles that address your challenges; principles detailed in my book "Changing Your Stripes," as well as ideas expressed at my website.
When you have questions about the principles I share, please ask for clarification in a return email — I'll answer your follow-up questions too.
As you simply cease thinking about yourself, and turn your heart and mind to others — in this case, to your ancestors — and learn about the unique roots from which your identity was formed, most of life's problems will spontaneously disappear! Why? Again, the pursuit of happiness is a paradox.
Nazi death-camp survivor Viktor Frankl wrote:
"Don't aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target,
the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it
must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication
to a cause greater than oneself, a by-product of one's surrender to a person other than
oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to
let it happen by not caring about it. Then you will live to see that in
the long-run, success will follow you precisely because
you had forgotten to think about it."
~ Viktor Frankl
So whether you are stuck in a temporary rut, hoping to climb out, or whether you stand at the base of a great mountain, ready to climb up, Dr Matt's Family History Therapy provides an opportunity for you to rise higher, a chance for your life to become richer, more joyful.
"Nearly all controversies and combats grow out of the fact that we
are trying to get something from each other. There will be peace when
our aim is to do something for each other. The true measure of a joyful life
is in the outgo and overflow — our contribution to the welfare of others."
~ William Jennings Bryan
While talking on the telephone, I will teach you how to do Family History Research using the free Family Tree website FamilySearch.org — this website is especially good for organizing a family tree of deceased ancestors. It has pedigrees that reach back to King Charlemagne, 800 A.D. and beyond. FamilySearch offers options to post pictures and stories for each ancestor, and it has a "sources" section that organizes the vital and census records that confirm the facts of your ancestry.
Family History Therapy by Dr Matt
