Emotional health is deeply intertwined in an ongoing journey with spiritual health. This involves opening to our pain, grieving our trauma, and patiently cultivating a resilience that stabilizes and secures our relationships and our sense of self.With compassion, pastoral presence, and emotional attunement, psychologist Dr. David Wang is using psychological and theological tools to help us understand and adapt to emotional realities, explore the wounds of our past, and find healing and strength through acceptance and grief.In this conversation with David Wang, we discuss:The difference between human development and spiritual formation and how to understand maturityThe centrality of relationships in human life and growth, and how that’s grounded in divine relationality and our communion with GodHow to become friends with ourselves, offering self-compassion and being moved by our own sufferingThe impact of childhood trauma on adult emotional, psychological, and spiritual healthAnd finally, how a practice of grief can help us understand and work through traumatic experiences and move toward healing.Show NotesChristian theology and formationA philosophical approach to theologically informed strategies for transformation and growthHow the relational aspects of God ground an approach to therapy and spiritual formationWhat are the markers of maturity?Relatedness and connection to others facilitates the process of human growth and developmentEmotional building blocks and relational capacities for maturityDave Wang on spiritual health and thrivingTheological and psychological frameworks of thrivingHolding the beautiful beside the brokenBecoming friends with ourselvesShow compassion, be moved by our own suffering, and accept limitations as we strive toward the hard work we’re all called to.Two paradoxical needs to achieve spiritual maturity and healthWe are made for relationships, but we also need independenceBalanceSpiritual and emotional maturityFormation through practice, education, and healthy developmentCan virtue be taught?Can maturity be educated?Can we learn to thrive and be spiritually healthy?In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Gabor Maté writes that “The attempt to escape from pain is what creates more pain.”When our brains and our bodies go into survival modeAvoidance as a coping mechanism or strategyChildhood trauma in childhood“When the psychic pain is so unbearable, the felt threat so intimidating, we mentally and emotionally try to escape.”Childhood trauma can reemerge in adult behaviors, relationships, habits, language, even physical illness or conditions.Do I have trauma that I haven’t dealt with?The symptoms or signs of traumaHow to approach the process of seeking help and healing.Concrete practices that can help and heal traumatic experienceLearning to grieveChristian spiritual practices of prayerThe emotional practice of grief and acceptanceDr. Pam King’s Key TakeawaysHuman beings need both relationships and independence. And learning how to balance and integrate them is a marker of our maturity.Though we may try to escape from pain, to deal with trauma we need to practice acceptance and grief. It’s a difficult and complex relational process that brings us closer to healing and wholeness.We can befriend ourselves in our pain through a practice of self-compassion.In this life, we have to hold beauty beside brokenness. Cultivating the capacity to do so is the hard work of growth into spiritual and emotional maturity, and the joyful journey of thriving.About David WangDr. David Wang is a licensed psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary, where he’s also the Cliff and Joyce Penner Chair for the Formation of Emotionally Healthy Leaders and scholar in residence at Fuller’s Center for Spiritual Formation. He speaks and trains leaders globally on trauma informed care. And he conducts research and teaches courses in Trauma Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Multicultural Psychology, and the Integration of Psychology and the Christian faith. He is also Pastor of Spiritual Formation at One Life City Church in Fullerton, California. About the Thrive CenterLearn more at thethrivecenter.org.Follow us on Instagram @thrivecenterFollow us on X @thrivecenterFollow us on LinkedIn @thethrivecenter About Dr. Pam KingDr. Pam King is Executive Director the Thrive Center and is Peter L. Benson Professor of Applied Developmental Science at Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy. Follow her @drpamking. About With & ForHost: Pam KingSenior Director and Producer: Jill WestbrookOperations Manager: Lauren KimSocial Media Graphic Designer: Wren JuergensenConsulting Producer: Evan RosaSpecial thanks to the team at Fuller Studio and the Fuller School of Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy.
