The Next Exercise

Index. Introduction Day One Day Two - The Dream Next Exercise Final Presentation Bibliography

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The Next Exercise

At this stage we were asked to document over a period of five days something simple and unemotional. I chose picking up the mail. How hard can it be? It was quite surprising....Having been subjected to violence over an extended period of time including a bombing when I was young and having had a friend maimed by a letter bomb, it soon became apparant I don't like picking up the mail. I soon became aware that I only pick up the mail about twice a week. I was surrounded by huge fear issues, which were certainly intensified because I was under stress.

Because the exercise asked us to keep it simple I aborted this mission. I vowed to do something easier the next week. (I'll go back and deal with all of those fear based issues at a later date - when the time is right.)

From this exercise I have come to understand the way in which the process brings issues and hitherto unseen "patterns of being" to the surface of knowing. I have since worked through some of the issues with my own Counsellor and will be doing some exercises to releave some of this behaviour in the coming holidays when the time is right.

"Plan of Action and Follow-Up. The therapist and person in therapy determine the action required to achieve a resolution of the problem. In the follow up interview, they assess the effectiveness of the course of action and determine the next steps." Moustakas. 1995. p.231)

Instead I documented my trip to school each day. Here is the story. It is called Missed Opportunities. The significant gift that came from this exercise was the movement that I made up to go with the course work that we did! I had managed to take the plunge into dance, movement and mantra. You can see the movement superimposed in and around the tree. The mantra to go with the movement was

Open my eyes
Open my heart
Open my knowing to the universe
Let me love

Big

Let me bring it back to the people.

It was mainly acted out with arm movements, and rocking on my feet. From then on I used this mantra every day and an awful lot at the hospital later. I was determined to over come my fears in time, so that I could be strong emotionally when my dad died. I was thrilled that I had engaged in movement. I had, had to pray all the way to the workshop that morning to be able to do it, but I did move away from hiding behind the comfortableness of drawing, and that was all that mattered.

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