Break out Creativity!

Already I feel the stretching in my brain.  This week in our Connections Community on-line, we are talking about Creativity as a tool to overcome!  So, I've been looking at it and trying some of the exercises as designed by Michael Michalko (www.creativethinking.net).  The exercises disrupt my normal thinking patterns - and I actually feel the strain in my brain! 

Why try to revive my creativity?  Several reasons:
1. Some of the ways I think and the patterns I live in aren't working for me.  You know that definition of insanity:  "Doing the same old thing and expecting different results."
2.  I have been created with creativity inside. And yet it is submerged. School teaches us to understand things in categories and structures and often stifles creativity. In healing we are instructed to look at our "toolbox" and select the right tool.  And sometimes the categories and tools don't match my needs and don't unleash my possibility.
3.  I've always been someone who pushes the status quo.  I want new solutions to the challenges in my world, because what we're doing isn't working!

It took me awhile to even grasp how this concept of creativity can work in restoration.  It was my creative colleague, Rachel who first pushed this idea on me. I had to push past my boxed definition of  creativity to grasp it - which is the entire purpose! 

Thinking creatively isn't just for artists or photographers.  It is part of you!  And it can be restored! 

As I think about you all uncovering and connecting to creativity I am awash with the excitement of what can happen! 

• Inside your creativity is the power to overcome the impact of all you've experienced.
• Think creatively and you might be the one who carries the solutions we need. 

With your creativity unleashed, we can accomplish new and powerful things!

Here's a worksheet for you to explore Creativity! Let me know what you discover!
 http://www.connectionssp.org (Click on Worksheet Tab)

Why do you hold on?

I'm telling you up front that this title is a bait and switch - so you might want to leave right now!  Ha! You may have thought that I was going to talk about how challenging it is to hold on while you work to overcome trauma. 

I'm not.

I want to express my perplexity as I watch people hold on to the things that hurt them.  I see people hold on to their story; hold on to the emotions, the dysfunctional behaviors, and the lies they believe. All the things that keep them trapped in anxiety, depression, and hurtful relationships.  It baffles me.  It confuses me.  And it exhausts me.

Do I sound unsympathetic?  I'm not.  I am sympathetic to the reality of what each person has endured. Do I sound ignorant?  I'm not. I am aware of the atrocities perpetrated and the devastating impact, and the work it takes to shift. Do I sound worn out?  Maybe.

As I've pondered why some people do the work of shifting, and why some remain in the cycle of seeking healing, I've come to the conclusion that it all boils down to willingness.  I know the things we tell ourselves about the "why" we don't make the shifts to set ourselves free.  I know that one of the core forces of resistance is fear. That is a given! Typically, when we hear about people's fear, we either validate it as real, (which it is) or suggest courage as a means to overcome it. But I believe the skill necessary is deeper than that - it takes willingness to engage the courage.  It takes finding the will inside to say, "no matter what," I'm going to overcome.

I was scared when I realized I was losing a 26 year marriage.  I could have allowed the fear of the unknown, or of what people would think to keep me trapped.  I could have put away all that I had learned about myself and settle back down into what I knew how to do.  I had to be willing to turn my world upside down. 

So my question to all of us is:  
Why do you hold on to the things that are hindering your life?

If you discover that ultimately you aren't willing to make the shift, find a safe way to live in what you are experiencing.  Disarm the internal conflict created by seeking healing you are not willing to take.  No judgement!  Just accepting the reality of what you are willing and not willing to do.  Even that will set you free.

I want to SCREAM!

Tonight on our local news station a report will air about the popular topic, "human trafficking" and sex crimes.  It appears the focus will be on how police are responding and preparing for the upswing in prostitution this summer as a major sports event comes to our city.

I won't watch it.  It upsets me too much.

No, not because I can't mange the issue - but because of how we as a community so quickly pat ourselves on the back because we are "addressing" sex crimes. 

While we ignore the persistent presence of sexual violence against children in our homes.

I WANT TO SCREAM!

• When will we take serious the cries of that young boy or girl who TODAY is being molested by a "trusted" adult?
• When will we stop trying to equip children to protect themselves and finally challenge adults to stop raping kids!
• Where is the outrage at the damage being done to the potential found in the identity of that child?
• Why is it that other causes, that affect far less people, receive the funding?

I WANT TO SCREAM!

Let me scratch the denial for you.  This is a glimpse of what is behind the closed door of sexual crimes in our homes:

• The grandmother distraught as the third generation female is sexually violated.
• The 23 year old who internalized the disgust of the sexual atrocity perpetrated against her.
• The 12 year old who, again molested by her father, was ignored by the system when she first spoke of it at age 4.
• An on-line community for victims closes because there is no money.
• The crippling cycle of therapists, groups, doctors, lost days of work, paralyzing fears, and repeating dysfunctions that costs our culture billions of dollars.
• Fact: the trauma of sex abuse is inked to drugs, alcohol and many physical illnesses.

I WANT TO SCREAM!

What is it going to take for us to get this?

 I WANT TO SCREAM!

I"M SICK OF IT!

                   ... and the tears start to flow....

What People Pass off for Love is Appalling

I'm always open to go where our support group wants to go.  We were talking about the relationship someone develops with the trauma they experienced, when the discussion took a sharp turn. Our ladies began to talk about the current relationships they have with their parents.  All 5 women present had a deep unmet longing to feel loved and accepted by a parent.  Separate from the sex abuse they had experienced was this unmet need that was crying out for fulfillment.  That cry is hurting them today as it continuously puts them in unhealthy relationship patterns and keeps the trauma engaged.

Imagine the confusion within a child when:

• A mother says I love you, but the next day abandons her at the side of the road as a joke.
• A fathers consistent criticism is the basis of acknowledgement.
• A mother only accepts you if you meet her needs.
• The child's revelation of sex abuse is met with disregard.

As children we have no choice but to assign the term "love" to what is given to us as a representation of love. Often what is offered in the name of love is not sufficient nor is it truth. The child ends up emotionally malnourished, weakened and starving for what she thinks only the parent can provide.  That leaves the adult child still attached to the frustrating cycle of hope that the parent will love appropriately. 

Now, as an adult, you have the responsibility, and right to recognize the reality of what your parent offers as love and grieve what is missing. It is time to accept the reality of who your parent is and make steps to release yourself from the toxic cycles that occur.

Then, that unmet need of parental love can be filled as you recognize and internalize the safe love of others.  It may not come the way you had hoped, but it absolutely is possible to fill that void.

What was offered as love was appalling.  What's available in healing is amazing.

So stuck in story.

So stuck in telling story.

So scarred.  So empty.

So not restored.  So not complete.

So hiding impact.  So hiding scars.  So hiding self.

So easily trapped.  So easily complacent.  So easily compliant.  So easily fooled.  So easily dieing.

So busy denying.  So busy doing.  So busy running.  So busy hurting. 

So shut down.  So hopeless.  So dead end.  

So buried. So tragic.

So stuck in telling story.

 

So not the end!  So much more to reveal.  So much more to gain.

So very hard.

So few who go for it.

So tragic!

 

Don't ask me that

I have this pet peeve that has become larger than my ability to keep quiet about it.  When I go to my bank I brace myself for the interaction that comes.  No, they aren't disrespectful.  On the contrary, they act as if they are interested and care.  "How are you today?" they ask.  And I bristle because I know that they really don't care.  And they expect my answer to be:  "I'm fine,"

I have become so aware of how people flippantly inquire about important things.  A friend recently described for me this incident.  While at church, she got in touch with a deep hurt and began to cry. The person next to her asked, "Are you okay?"  And my friend's response:  "Yes, I'm fine."

Now, I know that this person at least acknowledged her condition.  I've known people to totally ignore an emotional response.  And I know that my friend had the responsibility to be authentic in the moment. But, why ask, "are you okay?"  It's obvious she isn't.  In truth, that question holds the expectation that you be okay.  The message is, I acknowledged it, now be okay. We are conditioned to deny the emotional reality we live.

Have you said this: "I've had a bad day, I'm crying and upset."  Why is that a bad day?  Why is an authentic expression of engagement in the reality of life labeled as bad?

I flinch, no I more than flinch, I get frustrated with such disregard for the things of the heart.  Life is hard!  Life is often more than challenging.  If we deny ourselves the process of acknowledging our emotions and completing them, we end up depressed, anxious, resentful and bitter.  And if we, as a people continue to reinforce the stuffing of emotions, we contribute to this hurtful result.

I pity the next bank teller who asks me how I am.  He might get an earful!

No Re-wear for me!

You know by now that I don't usually think the way other people think.  I hear a word and it gets my mind thinking in a totally different direction.  So, on Sunday the Oscars were on television. I decided to ignore it totally.  The reasons?  I think movie stars are given more attention and power than they deserve and I grow weary of hearing, "Who are you wearing?"  Who cares, really?

Then I heard Gayle King, (CBS) later remark that she had on a "re-wear."

Hmmmm, odd term.  Re-wear. In the movie star world you never wear an old dress.  Instead you wear a "designer dress", something made especially for you.  It is unique. Has status.  Provides recognition. Something that makes a statement about who you are.

Okay, here's my leap of thought.

All of us have a "designer dress."  It was designed with you in mind.  It shows off your best side.  It has a purpose.  It is beautiful.  It is unique.  It makes a statement.  Provides recognition.  Makes an impact.  So what is your "designer dress?"  It is your authentic identity!  Created by Creator God to define you, equip you and propel you into destiny.

Seldom do we wear it.  For our designer dress gets covered over by circumstances, actions against us, things we tell ourselves and things others say about us.  We walk clothed in a "re-wear."

So, I'm thinking, it's not cool to wear a re-wear.  The people who walk in their designer dress get admiration; even awards! That's what I'm talking about!  Decided: I'm going to continue to do the work of Restoration - to uncover who I was designed to be!

I'm going to wear my designer dress today! And be on the lookout for my academy award.  Maybe someone will even come up to me and ask, "Who are you wearing?"