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Archive Number 3550 | ||
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Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 15:16:15 -0500
MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear David et al, I don't think there is a simple answer for anyone about whether they should tell a particular personal story that is traumatic, or not. although, at some point one has to be able to tell it to oneself. In my own experience working with ex child soldiers from Africa, there were times when the telling of the story was actually just a litany of details and was not a story at all, so the teller was not liberated or informed by their own story. Sometimes accidentally the quality of the listener was so profound that the teller came alive during the telling somehow connecting to feeling and appreciating/trusting being seen. On the other hand, I have heard the actual felt acknowledged story told without guilt and without fixation by other kids and in that telling the young person experienced some way to go on, go forward, reimagine their life and even make something medicinal out of what they learned and could apply. There were kids who were coming to the US and in the end, I helped them not to tell their stories when they were younger since those that heard would only see them as soldiers rather than as human beings. they needed to activate their ability to feel and dream and relate as normal human beings first. Now they are older, and they can tell those very personal stories without shame. some spices for the soup... ------------------------------- To Unsubscribe from Healingstory send the message: unsubscribe healingstory to: listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu ------------------------------- | ||