A counseling client from years gone by has reappeared, searching for some help with, well, trauma.
We started with lots of listening on my part. It’s harder to do the tea & Kleenex part via Zoom, but eventually we reached the point when I could say, with a great deal of professional confidence, that I absolutely agree with the current therapeutic movement to drop the D from PTS_, recognizing that much of the world is dealing with traumatic stress and it’s part of being human, not disordered.
Then, before our next time together, I began to hear the walls whispering. Well, metaphorically, at least. You see, our walls are literally covered in my Intentional Creativity® journey. And, I’ve been doing a whole lot of what Bill refers to as hatching, lately.
Hatching as both a coach and as a Grandmother!
You’ve probably noticed, too, that all that stress and trauma is not just a thing for professional debates. It’s a deeply personal thing for many of those we love the most.
That meant a whole lot of chatting with The Muse painting. Here’s a glimpse:
Her job was to help me recognize the wisdom I carry and to lend me some courage for sharing it!
It’s hard, though, to hang with The Muse without also pondering her partner-in-concern, The Critic.
Apparently hating her hair at the moment, The Critic is not available for a photo op. She did authorize me to remind you that she says No! No! No! about a whole lot of things because they’re new and scary, not because she doesn’t love me.
Kind of predictably, in stressful times, The Critic tends to be more emphatic than ever about not doing things we’ve never done before, or even things we have that have become more scary, lately.
Thank goodness for my Medicine Basket, which seems to whisper, too, even as a supposedly inanimate object!
Together, we all got busy with a plan for empowering.
Then, The Muse remembered that, while The Critic assuredly loves us, she was absent on all the days when my old friend and teacher, Dr. Steve Glenn, proclaimed that, We don’t rescue people from opportunities to learn… only from things beyond their capabilities.
That last bit was frequently followed by the example of two-year-olds in traffic. Them we rescue.
And the walls whispered on while I (sort of) slept until I woke with a new question in my head…
How do we, as Grandmothers and Elders and like-minded folk, juggle the muses and critics inside us?
And help our beloved littles to do the same???
These days, that probably feels even harder than usual to many of us!
And, quite possibly, more important than ever!
So, one of the things I’m doing is guiding some folks through a rather ramped-up Medicine Basket process. (Details coming soon!)
And, I’m helping with the teaching team for Forest of Grandmothers, the exciting new year-long Intentional Creativity journey about to start in the tradition of Red Madonna.
You, wise one that you are, have already figured out that if you click the pretty colored link, lots and lots of juicy details about this amazing journey will magically appear, curiosity being one of those things that belongs in all our Medicine Baskets!
Here’s the thing…
Safety is enormously important in the literal sense.
The quest for safe (read that familiar) can also hold us back from our greatest gifts if it becomes the only option we consider!
It’s a bit like dandelions! Noxious weeds? Or hopeful, nutritious gifts???
Gifts, I think. And pretty good ones for Grandparents’ Day!
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pps… I have room for just two more individual clients interested in exploring some of these issues 1:1. You can email me at suesvoice@gmail.com for more information!