Category Archives: Chuck’s Blog

Welcome to Chuck’s Place! This is where Chuck Ketchel, LCSW-R, expresses his thoughts, insights, and experiences! Currently, Chuck posts an essay once a week, currently on Tuesdays, along the lines of inner work, psychotherapy, Jungian thought and analysis, shamanism, alchemy, politics, or any theme that makes itself known to him as the most important topic of the week. Many of the shamanic and psychological terms used in Chuck’s essays are defined in Tools & Definitions on our Psychotherapy page.

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: To Be Special And Not Be Special

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The power of the dual mind is unlimited…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

I once had a professor hand me back a paper and say, “Yeah, you can write, but don’t get a fat head.” He was a weathered Irish alcoholic, a seasoned veteran of many a late night lecture at the pub.

He would write two sentences on the board from the current New York Times, then spend the entire class breaking it down, demonstrating countless violations in grammar, printed in this ‘revered’ newspaper.

He taught me to stay humble and play by the rules. I’ve never written anything since where I haven’t had his critical eye challenging my every word.

Christianity holds humility as a foundational virtue. “Pride goeth before the fall,” counsels King Solomon in Proverbs.

Certainly, the guidance to avoid ego inflation is central to psychological health. Its danger, in Narcissistic Personality Disorder, couldn’t be more evident than on today’s world stage.

Its prominence in Schizophrenia is also evident, where ego is often swallowed by the grander personality of a Napoleon or a Joan of Arc.

The struggle in Bipolar Disorder is often to take the elixir that renders one to the ordinariness of everyday life, surrendering a dip into the mania of infinite possibility, or a retreat into the utter inertia of depression.

This well-armed war on specialness requires us to knock on wood, to not tempt fate after making a boast. So great is the penalty for assuming even a hint of divine identification.

In fact, this overarching law to refuse all specialness has insisted that humankind disown and project any hint of supernatural power onto an outside entity, be it God, Goddess, or the Universe, as it fully embraces its unworthiness.

As they pray at the Catholic Mass, just prior to receiving Holy Communion, with its human ingestion of the Divine: “Lord I am not worthy, speak but the word and my soul will be healed.”

This preponderance of caution around assuming human specialness is not simply a conspiratorial effort to control the masses and create dependency upon manipulative prophets. To enter into one’s true specialness one must first defeat any attachment to self-importance.

Ego must be honed to handle the enormity of self found in the breadth of the subconscious mind. For much of life ego enjoys the falsehood of its self-importance. Its true task is to grow up and assume responsibility for directing its own inner divinity, the subconscious mind, to exercise its power for the greater good.

Rationality, the greatest achievement of the conscious mind, must be freed from its know-it-all fixation of ego certitude, to its necessary role of producing appropriate suggestions for the subconscious mind’s creation.

In this role, ego surrenders its self-importance to authentically serve the greater Truth. The truth is that we are beings with a dual mind. The conscious mind is assigned the role of leadership; the subconscious mind is the creator.

The subconscious mind can “heal your body and mind of all disease,” states Joseph Murphy in his epic, The Power of Your Subconscious Mind. However, to tap into such power the ego must lose its obsession with its own specialness and fully embrace its actual superpower of suggestion, responsibly.

The ego must also exercise its powers of reflection to arrive at truth, then deliver its suggestions faithfully to the subconscious mind.

To believe in the power of the subconscious mind is to know its power through direct experience. The road to that knowing requires ego’s dedication to exercising this power of intent, without attachment to the outcome.

The power of the subconscious mind can be used for healing, manifesting, change, creativity, inspiration, intuition, telepathic communication, a whole host of positive intentions.

Simply, or not so simply, closing the door to distraction, and incessantly repeating one’s intent through suggestion, initiates the journey of cooperative wholeness between the dual mind in the service of the greater good. A more special relationship there could not be.

Continue to be well,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Gift Of The Petty Tyrant

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Enhance the Love Vibe…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

The shamans of Carlos Castaneda’s lineage place a high value on people and circumstances that cause us to be offended, what they call the petty tyrants in our lives.

Being offended identifies areas of self-importance, the greatest tax on our energy while living in human form.

Self-importance is not self-worth. We can have a strong knowing of our worth and still not be offended by the inconsiderate actions of others. Self-importance is an ego defense of its inherent worth that becomes incensed when it is not appropriated the respect it feels is due. We all suffer this to some extent at various times in life.

Spiritual growth requires that we retrieve our vital energy from the petty tyrants in our lives to be able to more fully actualize our spiritual potential. When we free up our energy from being offended, we can experience a vastly broader reality than victimhood.

Shamans view petty tyrants as gifts to our evolution, if we can use encounters with them as opportunities to lose our self-importance. The first step in losing self-importance is to identify the petty tyrants in our life.

These days, the world is filled with petty tyrants, especially in governance. Every day, vast amounts of offended energy is spent through emotions of rage and defeat, emotions that can largely define the mood and flow of our entire lives. Releasing ourselves from being offended by truly offensive behaviors is a tremendous boon to our energy stores.

If we can acknowledge to ourselves that someone’s behavior and attitudes are inappropriate, but that perseverating about them is overwhelming our lives, we can simply choose to detach our attention from fixating upon them. As we withdraw our attention from them they disappear from our purview and thus our energy stores are preserved.

Sometimes, however, we may be held in check by someone’s deviousness. This might require that we take some constructive action to protect ourselves, although often we must accept the limitation imposed upon us, until things can change. The trick is not to be offended but, in a detached way, to minimize the energy spent managing the situation.

We can tell ourselves that a circumstance isn’t personal, but the truth is it may be quite personally directed at us. We can tell ourselves to be compassionate toward a flawed human being, but the truth is we might feel no compassion for the ruthless tyrant.

The gift of the petty tyrant is that, in order to successfully surmount it, we must fully lose our self-importance, without feeling bad about it.

To be able to say to the self, “I am being treated like I am a nothing,” without spending any energy feeling insulted by it, enables a clarity on how to respond, which might include not doing anything but simply allowing the karma of the behavior to resolve the issue in its own time. It’s not about retribution; it’s about energetic efficiency.

Of course, on an inner level, taking command of the suggestions we affirmatively deliver to our subconscious mind raises our vibration toward the highest vibration of love.

Regardless of what strategy we follow to navigate the petty tyrant, with positive intent we remain inwardly bathed in love and appreciation for life. At some level, such gratitude will extend to the petty tyrant, who has offered us the opportunity to hone and refine our energy, opening up worlds of possibility.

Ironically, we will eventually discover that the greatest petty tyrant of all resides within the self. Just notice the continual stream of judgments delivered from the habit of internal dialogue. The judgments are about everything and everyone, but most substantially, they are about every aspect of our own not-good-enough, entitled self!

Sometimes the petty tyrant within is experienced in habits that hold us hostage and keep us defeated in life. The opportunity presented to us in this instance is to assume responsibility for the habit, a kink we have consciously colluded with in order to remain fixated at a familiar feeling of being.

Don’t fight with a petty tyrant; to do so is to attach. Feel gratitude for the depth of challenge and consciousness it has brought to you, to truly know thyself.

Finally, achieve untetheredhood, the freedom to journey beyond, because the tethered grounding of self-importance has served its purpose. Get ready to launch now.

Untethered,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: The Love Language Of Autosuggestion

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The healing love language…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

The subconscious mind is the immortal soul. The subconscious mind is the innermost soulmate of the conscious mind. The subconscious mind is the mother of creation, which includes total control over the state of the physical body.

As our world rapidly erases its once trusted foundations, the way is, of necessity, opening to new possibilities. At the cosmic level the world soul, or Anima Mundi, is pouring forth new ideas for healing and structuring life as the Age of Aquarius continues to rise. The use of autosuggestion in healing is one of her precious gifts.

New York State is set to cut health insurance for nearly half a million residents in July due to cuts in federal support. This is a trend impacting the entire country. Efforts will be made to salvage services, however, major loses are on the near horizon. Health care needs new options.

Every human being has a subconscious mind. The subconscious mind has the capacity to heal anything, at least until proven otherwise. Autosuggestion, the language of love from the conscious mind to the subconscious mind, has the potential to heal the body and mind.

This kind of healing fits under the category of subtle mental energy healing, as its modus operandi is simply an intent expressed through the power of words. Submitting a suggestion to the subconscious mind engages its ability to break a current fixation upon an idea of illness, as manifested in the physical body, then shift to a different energetic idea, such as health and vitality, which may then manifest as a healing at the dense energy level of the physical body.

An obvious example of this mental healing power is the placebo effect, where the subconscious mind’s belief in a suggestion alone causes the physical change of healing. Allopathic medical intervention at the dense level of the physical body is well established and should be explored, however, one can feel additionally empowered to appeal to the subtle energy healing power of the subconscious mind.

How harmful can it really be to intentionally talk to one’s subconscious mind about healing? Interestingly, the greatest obstacle for the conscious mind in talking to its subconscious mind is its own negative judgment of itself for doing such an irrational thing, and, hence, its refusal to try the method.

Fortunately, it’s not belief by the conscious mind that’s required to activate a healing action, it’s belief by the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind accepts with blind faith and no dissension any premise that reaches it from the conscious mind. The only necessary requirement is to actually reach the subconscious mind with the healing suggestion.

The method to reach the subconscious mind is autosuggestion, even if you consciously don’t believe the suggestion! This is best accomplished when the conscious mind is drowsy, as it’s less likely to cause interference. However, even this is not a necessary requirement.

Incessant, rote, repetition of a suggestion is the recommended approach. A simple pain in the body can be met with the verbal or thought suggestion: “The pain in my _____ is healing, the pain in my _____ is healed.” Repeating this rapidly, over and over, creates a powerful defense against engaging the conscious mind’s doubts while also building a powerful energetic charge to attract the attention of the subconscious mind.

I myself have repeated a suggestion nonstop for over an hour’s length of time. This is not a standard, there are no standards. The guidance is to persist, relentlessly, until the results are achieved.

This can be an on and off process over days, or even beyond. Follow what feels right, but be guided by the advice often delivered in the I Ching: Perseverance furthers.

The subconscious mind is extremely telepathically sensitive to the subconscious thoughts of other people, particularly if those thoughts are focused on one’s self. Thus, if someone knows you are practicing autosuggestion and inwardly believes it to be foolish, that thought may act as a negative suggestion to your own subconscious mind, weakening your personal healing autosuggestion.

The guidance here is to treat one’s use of autosuggestion as an alchemical process. Seal the container of your mind from the interfering thoughts of others by not sharing your inner practice of autosuggestion.

This self containment even extends to sharing one’s successes in mental healing, as the unexpressed doubts or jealousies of others can still have an undermining influence upon your own subconscious mind. Internalized doubt can potentially reverse a healing if it becomes a negative autosuggestion.

As the conscious mind achieves positive outcomes for its autosuggestion practice, it will lose its doubts and accrue great confidence in its innate ability to heal in consort with its subconscious mind.

The greatest influence upon the subconscious mind is the conscious mind, its true soulmate. The irony of their relationship is the contrast between the subconscious mind’s vast divine powers of perception and manifestation and the conscious mind’s seemingly meager ability to reason and intend.

Yet, without the reasoning and sound intent of the conscious mind, the subconscious mind would be subject to all kinds of outside suggestions that could potentially enslave it and abuse its powers.  Such could be argued is the state of the world today.

The conscious mind is indeed charged with focusing its intent on health and the greater good for all. This is the love language that brings the conscious and unconscious minds into greatest union.

Persistently filling the mind with positive suggestions not only brings the whole self into harmony but telepathically contributes to the greater positive suggestion bank shaping our world.

That’s what love’s got to do with it,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Children Of The Mind

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Thoughts have power…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

The conscious mind is the father. Thoughts that the mind entertains are like sperm cells. The subconscious mind is the mother whose eggs become fertilized by these thoughts in the form of the suggestions she is attracted to, and, hence, opens to conceive.

This resulting pregnancy in the subconscious mind is the creative process of transforming thought into material reality. As matter is gathered and ordered according to the thought blueprint, an idea is born into a physical life. Thus a child of the mind is born.

This might involve the arrangement of events or encounters in the flow of everyday life that fulfill the requirements to materialize one’s intent. Here, you see the law of attraction operating upon physical reality to create, in the flesh, the original thought, belief, suggestion or intention of the conscious mind. This is a step-by-step process, often with many building blocks assembling over time.

Children of the mind can assume many forms. The child of a gratitude practice is the inner experience of a lightness of being and joy of being. As we express gratitude from the conscious mind, the subconscious mind receives this compassionate intent and instructs the body to release deeply calming hormones that bathe the body and mind in utter tranquility.

Should the conscious mind harbor negative thoughts, the subconscious mind will dutifully produce children of distress, as the physical body will be taxed with having to house the energy of negativity. This might result in an inner hormonally produced bad mood, low level depression, or a state of anxiety.

Sometimes people experience a pervasive state of anxiety seemingly not attached to thought. Often this is connected to trauma, where life was frozen in the thought of the constant need for defense, unable to resolve in the delivery of processing its experience.

This frozen state of vigilance becomes a forestalled birthing process, housed in the body, that awaits the conscious mind, in the form of a midwife, to be present to its experience and help deliver it to resolved new life.

Often, outside thoughts enter the conscious mind seeking to influence our beliefs and behaviors. These might result in illegitimate pregnancies, especially if we attach to these thoughts without soulful vetting.

Cautionary guidance here is to remain in a passive mode when excited by a passion-induced thought. This passive state is actually a receptive state where one allows oneself greater access to the broader picture, which might expose the one-sidedness of the outside influence.

Additionally, when we are in the receptive state, we are opened to the greater wisdom of our interconnected reality. Synchronicities come that punctuate and affirm thoughts that present.

In this process, ego, or conscious self, receives the guidance of higher wisdom, which points the way to appropriate action for the greater good of self. With this clarity, passivity gives way to activity, as vetted suggestion is presented to the subconscious mind.

All people are parents and children of their own minds. Claim ownership of these creative possibilities and lead life into greater fulfillment for self and all.

With conscious intention and subconscious joy,
Chuck

Chuck's Blog

Chuck’s Place: Positive Saturation

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Generate Positive Feelings…
-Artwork © 2026 Jan Ketchel

Upon her arrival at Auschwitz at 16 years of age, the late Edie Eger was forced to immediately dance for the notorious Josef Mengele, known as, the Angel of Death. She chose, as she writes about in her best seller, The Choice, to imagine herself waltzing on stage at the Budapest Opera House, in the arms of a boy she loved.

For her stunning performance Mengele let her live and gave her a loaf of bread. Like her future mentor and colleague, Victor Frankl (author of Man’s Search for Meaning), Edie chose to exercise the power of the imagination to manifest staying alive.

What we imagine, is the blueprint the subconscious mind uses to create the physical outcome of our lives. To not pay attention to what we imagine is to allow our lives to unfold without clear intention. To choose what to imagine is to assume conscious responsibility for the content of our imagination and hence, the direction and outcome of our lives.

When it comes to the state of our health, the quality of our thoughts, as played out in our imagination, is fundamental. We are daily flooded with messages of vulnerability to outside invasive bacteria and viruses. As well, we are saturated with influencers touting potential remedies and preventive measures.

The imagination is solicited to play out these scripts that irritate and activate the central nervous system (CNS) to manufacture neurotransmitters, as well as the endocrine system to produce hormones, to prepare our body and mind for simply a thought of invasion of no true substance.

The subconscious mind responds to the imagination the same way it responds to actual reality. What we imagine is reality to the subconscious mind, which in turn innervates the brain to respond accordingly.

Rather than fixate upon the alarming messages seeking to generate a false reality in the mind and body, we are free to choose to focus our attention upon thoughts that calm the imagination and, consequently, the CNS.

These thoughts generate the production of feel good hormones such as serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin. These promote deep states of relaxation, calm and peace. If, in fact, a genuine threat were to present itself, our resilience, accrued from such calm practice, provides confidence to meet the challenge, rather than being overwhelmed by a crisis.

The practice I suggest to achieve such calm is quite simple. The internal dialogue within the mind never sleeps, but you can override it by taking charge of the words you say to yourself. Saturate yourself with positive words. Simply say them all the time, with intention.

If negative thought intruders momentarily steal your attention, simply shift to the positive words as soon as you notice the disruption. Don’t waste a second more thinking the negative thought.

Here are some positive word suggestions: peace, love, freedom, happiness, joy, comfort, relaxed, beauty, calm, pleasure, warmth, refreshed, happy, treasure, rested… Truthfully, the list is endless.

Choose a word. Perhaps say it many times at a chosen rhythm. Make up poems, jingles, or songs to play with the words. Saturate your inner experience with the words and positive feeling states they generate.

Also, when you say one of these words, they often bring up associations to similar words or experiences to be lived and enjoyed in the imagination. Go there.

One of the practices I enjoy is Vim Hof’s retentive breath work. I utilize the word method, choosing the word that feels right in the moment. I have been able to vastly achieve calm states during lengthy breath retention through this approach. These calm states are retained long after the practice has ended.

Positive saturation promotes deep states of calm to be readily available at the mere stating of a word. Positive saturation does not eliminate real challenges that must be met, but it removes the bulk of negative states manufactured in error.

Positively saturate yourself to your heart, mind and breath’s content,
Chuck