Men Being Real

Sometimes in the cycle of living, loving and just plain surviving we men can lose ourselves. Complex events, relationships, parenting, life transitions, difficult emotions, or dull routine can leave us feeling disconnected, isolated and dissatisfied. Traditionally our culture calls on men to be strong - providers, protectors and achievers; at the same time we are expected to be loving, emotionally open and available. We may admire the deeper friendships women seem to have but often don't know how to create the same for ourselves. You may recognise below some of the issues which repeatedly arise for men:

- Isolation and competitiveness.
- Loneliness and lack of friendship with other men.
- Numbness to your own feelings and difficulty in developing intimacy.
- Emotional over-dependence on relationships with others.
- Lack of positive masculine identity.
- An unnameable sense of loss due to the absence of fathering.
- Cycles of control, depression, frustration and inappropriate expressions of anger.
- Challenges in relationship and family life.
- Questions of who am I and where am I going with my life? – especially in relation to life transitions.

There is another way. The codes of masculinity are changing and men are learning to go beyond the traditional mate-ship of pubs, clubs and sports. Increasingly men are getting together to examine who they are and what's important to them. In this process we are undergoing a powerful transformation.