On the eve of my fourth residency at Goddard College as a IMA-TLA student (Individualized Masters in Transformative Language Arts), I am sitting on the upper level of a gym as my son and two dozen other miniature humans are noisily jumping, swinging, rolling, and springing below me. Might as well be another planet from … Continue reading Trust the Process (part 11): Re-turning
Journaling Techniques & Prompts
Authentic Voice Project: C is for Christ
I realized with discomfort that my last Authentic Voice Project post was in itself Inauthentic. I chose a safe word to explore. I shied away from tackling a true "trigger" word. I again silenced my voice out of fear of rocking the boat. I realized the hypocrisy of this and now I must fix it … Continue reading Authentic Voice Project: C is for Christ
Authentic Voice Project: C is for Contentment
The Authentic Voice Project: Week 3 (Full Moon) C is for Contentment Ahhh, contentment. Society says: Contentment is swinging on a hammock while staring at the sky. It is walking along a beach, hand-in-hand with your love, golden retriever bounding by your side. At least that's what the commercials would have us believe. But most … Continue reading Authentic Voice Project: C is for Contentment
Authentic Voice Project: B is for Belly
The Authentic Voice Project: Week 2 (New Moon) B is for Belly I considered many "trigger" words for this post: Behavior, Body, Beauty, Blame, but I settled on Belly because... well, I have one. Society says: A woman's belly should be flat; nay, concave. Low-rise and skinny jeans (practically the only type you can find … Continue reading Authentic Voice Project: B is for Belly
Authentic Voice Project: A is for Anger
The Authentic Voice Project: Week 1 (Full Moon) AUTHENTIC VOICE As we are beginning with A, I will take a moment to define Authentic Voice as I understand it. I believe we all have an Authentic Voice. It is the one that comes to us from various sources: intuitive insights dreams emotion-body reactions (such as … Continue reading Authentic Voice Project: A is for Anger
The Authentic Voice Project
For redefinition, I was thrown back to myself, to my inner knowing… Marilyn Sewell, Cries of the Spirit Words. Manifestations of our thoughts. Creators of our internal messages. Words have and continue to shape history and people - not always positively and sometimes with devastating consequences. Words have an affect on us, more powerful than … Continue reading The Authentic Voice Project
Do you need a map or a box of chocolates?
I have to thank Mark Matousek, with whom I took a class at the Therapeutic Writing Institute, for his insightful article in Psychology Today: What's Your Metaphor? Shifting Shapes In The New Year. This post is my response. Having never asked myself what word or phrase I consider my life metaphor, and how it affects … Continue reading Do you need a map or a box of chocolates?
Again with the Tension?! (Or, It’s OK not to know)
It's happened again. An old theme has come circling around, adding another new level of understanding. June 2009: I wrote this post on a different blog, which I then re-posted here in July 2011. This is the gist: During a Journal Therapy training I wrote (well, it kind of wrote itself while I held the … Continue reading Again with the Tension?! (Or, It’s OK not to know)
Trust your pen
I have to share a beautiful experience that speaks to the power of the pen to tap into something deeper and older than we can explain. This morning I was reading The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler. I won't go into all the emotions this book arouses in me but I cannot emphasize … Continue reading Trust your pen
Gotta dance!
When I was a very little girl I loved to dance. Once a week my Nana would take me to the Senior Center (which in England I think they used to call the Old Age Pensioner's Club - nice) so I could gavotte around for their entertainment. I loved it. And I almost killed my … Continue reading Gotta dance!
joanna tebbs young 