Here are some paraphrased examples of some Pathwork principles to give you a sense of the work. These principles are fascinating but are of little value if we stop at “understanding” them. We must go through the challenging work of applying them to our lives. This is done through daily spiritual practices, workshops, and by working with a Pathwork Helper.

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Our failed strategies to dominate or submit

There are many Pathwork principles. Here is one (simplified for brevity).

Based on our personality we try to get love in one of three ways – via dominating, submitting, or withdrawing.

Domination: People who are saddled with this strategy effectively demand love. If they don’t get it, they demand it, even more, leading to greater and greater frustration. If they do get it, they doubt its sincerity, and they feel guilty for forcing the other. It’s a no-win situation.

Submission: These people think, “If I just do everything for the other, then they’ll love me and do what I want.” This, of course, is a manipulation and doesn’t work. Moreover, the submitter is laden with frustration and fear (“Why didn’t it work?!”) as well as guilt for manipulating.

Withdrawing: These people think, “If I need nothing and make no demands, I will be loved and desired.

Way Out: The way out of both of these dilemmas starts by realizing and admitting (to one’s self at least) that you do this. It may help to investigate specifically from where this strategy came from (in early childhood). Then, by working with it (e.g., by journaling, meditating, feeling unfelt feelings about this, working with a Pathwork Helper), you create the space for real, true love.

Cheating life by not asking for what you want

There are many Pathwork principles. Here is one (simplified for brevity).

To not ask for what you want is cheating life. So why don’t we ask for what we want?  For one, we’re worried that we might appear greedy. Or we (incorrectly!) feel unworthy, undeserving. Another reason is that we think, “I deserve this; I shouldn’t have to ask.”

Way Out: We have to learn that asking for what we want is in flow with life, not against it.  We have to reeducate ourselves in terms of our own self-worth. We first want to discover what’s really going on behind the scenes. What false beliefs have we developed at an early age that we’re still operating out of? If you are energetically blocked, taking action “on top of” this energy usually fails.

Manifesting

There are many Pathwork principles. Here is one (simplified for brevity).

Manifesting whatever you want in life is greatly enhanced in four essential steps.

1. Conceiving of what we want and stating it as a very clear intention.
2. Impressing this on ourselves.
3. Visualizing the outcome.
4. Waiting in faith. Too often we start something and when we don’t get instant results, we give up. Or we try to force results. Look at the incredible abundance of life. Life wants to happen, if we let it. We plant the seeds, remove the rocks (blocks), and let Life do its thing. For example, suppose you don’t trust Life to let your house plants grow so you water them every day – until you drown them.

As we do this, we’ll take the obvious, right actions that organically and naturally follow once the internal change has been made. The process is not linear. Moreover, at every step, we want to find and remove our psychological and spiritual blocks to having what we want. Examples: I don’t deserve it; I secretly get pleasure by being denied; I’m afraid of the obligation if I actually do get it! We work with these blocks, e.g., by journaling, meditating, feeling unfelt feelings, and/or working with a Pathwork Helper.

Negative Pleasure

There are many Pathwork principles. Here is one (simplified for brevity).

As children, we had a real need for pleasure that went unmet. As a result, we found a kind of pseudo-pleasure in negative things – which continues to this day. This is called negative pleasure. An example is when we feel righteous indignation, for example in interacting with the phone company. “Can you believe they did that?! Outrageous!” There’s a kind of pleasure in that, however fleeting.

Negative pleasure blocks the flow of a beautiful life that wants to give to us. When we work with the energy through various processes, we can decouple the pleasure from the negativity. Understanding how we’ve attached pleasure to the negative in our lives, and decoupling it, yields a number of potential benefits. One is to stop repeating negative situations! Another is the it enhances the ability to cultivate the experience of true, lasting, positive pleasure.