Retreat Reflections – Day 4
Retreat Reflections – Day 4
The internet connects us – we now have the email list of retreat participants – pictures of ourselves have been exchanged – images that refresh our collective work to open new paths to our inner child – to bring him out of his exile – overcoming the fear and hurt and need to protect himself – moments of reuniting our selves in an environment of safety and support of men
We email each other – reports of growth – healing steps – new sense of self – knowing that something very special has taken place – trust and love surrounded us – allowed us to do the work of healing ourselves – guided by facilitators grounded in the truth of their own recovery – sharing their own amazing skills with which they guided us – exercises using art, drama, dance, meditations focused on the healing – gently leading us to ourselves – yet sometimes wrenching and painful
The pain we carried - expressed – shared – accepted – washed in tears – our own and the tears of our brothers whose knowing listening became windows to light – light which exposed our isolation – exposed it to our inner light and the collective light of each other
Our pain, offered up to be shared, examined, left to wither rather than to be held in hidden recesses of our child self seeking asylum from the world or to be held by our adult self seeking the daily isolation from the reality of our lives – emotions felt not buried
We look at the faces of our brothers – remembering the shared stories of our abuse and its horrible aftermath – the fear and pain – the loss and isolation - these stories which had defined our aloneness became the truth of our commonality – no longer alone we saw moments of transformation, healing, recovery - and the reclaiming of the control which we had lost to our abusers – drawing from each other's healing the strength to continue our own recovery
Tom
The internet connects us – we now have the email list of retreat participants – pictures of ourselves have been exchanged – images that refresh our collective work to open new paths to our inner child – to bring him out of his exile – overcoming the fear and hurt and need to protect himself – moments of reuniting our selves in an environment of safety and support of men
We email each other – reports of growth – healing steps – new sense of self – knowing that something very special has taken place – trust and love surrounded us – allowed us to do the work of healing ourselves – guided by facilitators grounded in the truth of their own recovery – sharing their own amazing skills with which they guided us – exercises using art, drama, dance, meditations focused on the healing – gently leading us to ourselves – yet sometimes wrenching and painful
The pain we carried - expressed – shared – accepted – washed in tears – our own and the tears of our brothers whose knowing listening became windows to light – light which exposed our isolation – exposed it to our inner light and the collective light of each other
Our pain, offered up to be shared, examined, left to wither rather than to be held in hidden recesses of our child self seeking asylum from the world or to be held by our adult self seeking the daily isolation from the reality of our lives – emotions felt not buried
We look at the faces of our brothers – remembering the shared stories of our abuse and its horrible aftermath – the fear and pain – the loss and isolation - these stories which had defined our aloneness became the truth of our commonality – no longer alone we saw moments of transformation, healing, recovery - and the reclaiming of the control which we had lost to our abusers – drawing from each other's healing the strength to continue our own recovery
Tom