The best I can do for myself is to write the truth on paper.
The secrets that I needed to tell someone at the age of 12, I told my journal.
Opening my mouth in protest at home resulted in physical punishment. Not a lot of freedom or agency other than my pen. (Relax. I’ve processed and moved on, dear hearts.)
Luckily, my parents didn’t speak enough English to be interested and thought I was doing my homework. (Phew! What a relief!)
More than five decades later, my journal is a container for the journey of individuation, of coming home to myself, to the one that now breathes more easily despite intergenerational and ancestral inputs.
In that vein, today I prepare for an event this week on unpacking unconscious bias.
Write Those Crazies Out
Leader Leesa Renee Hall sent participants pre-workshop questions.
And so, by writing, I get to sort through the stuff in me that is extraneous to the focus of the workshop, and mostly to do with some of the usual neurotic ways my mind thinks and worries.
Frankly, I’m so bored with my self-judgements.
But when they show up, I invite them in for tea.
I let them know that I hear them and love them, and that we’re all grown up now – so please, lighten up!
I don’t need to bring that excess stuff in with me, if I can do something about it by dumping it out.
After a bit of writing, I hear an inner voice. (I’ve been doing my own “light” version of Carl Jung’s Active Imagination process for over 9 years. So, it’s easy for me to hear, and NO – I don’t hear voices in the way you may be thinking.)
Until then, I’ve been writing with a blue pen, but this voice writes in pink.
“Why are you so attracted to the subject of unpacking unconscious bias and racism?” she asks me. “Why is it so important?”
Hardly pausing, I answer, “Because it’s the right thing to do. It’s about Justice, not about Miriam. It’s about the soul of the planet.”
I see her grinning. “Now isn’t that a wonderful understanding,” she says.
And I smile back, because indeed it is, and I am now free to attend with clarity and peace.
Love to you,
Miriam
P.S. If you are curious about unpacking unconscious biases and would like to attend Leesa’s Vancouver Workshop on Tuesday September 24, 2019 you can find out more in the link. Visit www.theunpacktour.com
Leesa is not accepting walk-in participants on the day of the workshop.