Welcome back folks. This is Justin Recla, your host of Incorporating SuperPowers. Today we’re going to tackle a topic that I think there’s a lot of people that are looking out and seeing things that perspective, reality, mental health, whether it be applied to race relations or gun control, or you pick a topic, it really doesn’t matter. But I think if you’re paying attention, I think you’ll see that across the board, across the globe, in every community, in every industry, we’re starting to see that us as human beings are evolving and that the tools that we had that got us to where we’re at are also starting to evolve as well.
My guest today is Dr. Tony Ortega. He is a clinical psychologist. He has written a book, or actually on his third book. Recently left his UK book tour because of COVID and all crazy whatnot. Today we’re going to be talking about beyond psychology. Tony has identified all sorts of discrepancies and issues within and problems within the industry and what it needs to do to evolve so we can move forward as a species. This is really, really important stuff. Tony, welcome to the show today.
Thank you so much for having me. I’m super excited. The topic we’re having.
This is going to be something. Talk to me a little bit. One first off, I love the name of your book. Do you have a picture of it there? Are you going to hold it up for the folks?
I do. I have it right here.
Are You Here Yet. For those who can’t see it, it’s Are You Hear Yet, How to Shut the Fuck Up and Show Up for Yourself. Now it says how to STFU and Show Up for Yourself, but we all know what that means. I think that is such a brilliant topic because it’s like, how do you shut up but how do you show up? It’s that internal work. Let’s just start the ball rolling. Tony, how long have you been a clinical psychologist?
I have been in mental health for going on 28 years, this summer in August, and I have been a professional psychologist now for the past 12.
Fantastic. A little bit of background to this. What are some of the issues that you’re seeing in the industry as it relates to what we’re seeing going on in the world and us as individuals?
Well, I think in the subtitle of my newest book I think sometimes, and this doesn’t go for everyone. This doesn’t apply to everyone, but I think that sometimes we talk too much and we don’t take enough action. That subtitle was a jab to the psychological world and to the self-help world as well, because as we were talking off the air, I have a leg in both between my writing career and my psychological practice. We spend too much time talking about something and not enough showing up taking action, taking that direction that we want so we could be in that space of our fullest self at any given time.
I really liked that. There’s a lot of talk in the self-help industry and the personal development industry. There’s a lot of talk. When you pull the curtain to the side and you look behind the curtain of who’s delivering the information, you see that they’re just as jacked up as you are. Now, does that discredit the information? I don’t think it does.
Absolutely not. I think how the person delivers the message is a whole other story.
Absolutely. I want to throw this into the mix as well, is that at some point, unless the person starts to evolve and fix what you see behind the curtain, then the message can get watered down because obviously they’re not doing the work.
Or the message is also delivered in a way that is not really meant to be like a law of attraction is just so popular in the self-help world. My God, most people take these theories and people think that they could visualize and attract a million dollars or something. That’s just not how it works. If you grasp the truth. To get with the law of attraction, if you get the real nature of it, it’s really cognitive behavioral psychology evolved to the next level.
But there’s a level beyond that. I think that’s what we’re talking about here is that beyond psychology conversation of yes, thoughts become things. Absolutely. It’s not just like, “Well, I was thinking about a million dollars and a million dollars.” There’s so much work that you have to do in showing up in your own mind, your own life, battling all the stories, all the fears. You’re like, “Well, I did that. I’ve been through the fears.” “Have you? Then how come you’re not manifesting them?” Because there gets a point that you could only… that only takes you so far. Then it becomes a new Hell loop unless you dig down deeper. How do we move beyond that? What are your recommendations? What do you suggest?
I think I was thinking about this, how medical science has evolved. We have new treatments, we have new medications, things with less side effects. Yet the psychological world has not evolved quite as rapidly as the medical world. My former job before I was working on my own in my practice was that very mentality of if you disclose any personal information to a client, you are considered a heathen. I’m sorry. I want my clients to relate to me. I want to model that behavior that they then can take to the outside world. That’s where I think psychology needs to evolve to in less of a, “I’m the doctor,” kind of thing to, “We’re in this together.”
I want to pause right here, Tony, because this is a great, great segue. We’re going to take a quick break, but right now we’re talking to Dr. Tony Ortega about beyond psychology. Tony, where can people go find more information about you before we go on break?
My website, drtonyortega.com or social media, Dr. Tony Ortega, don’t spell out the word doctors, it’s just Dr.
Fantastic. Folks, stay tuned. We’ll be right back as we dive more into this conversation so make sure you continue listening and make sure you go check out Tony’s website. We’ll be right back.
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