As always, the monthly blog is inspired by our monthly reading from Pause at the Well. This month, what especially stands out for me is the image of carrying our roots with us as we carry the torch lighting lighting our own way - as well as others.
This reading as me to look more deeply at where I am becoming rigid about how I getting to where I would like arrive. In the reading, it repeatedly returns us to slowing down and this to me speaks to finding stillness within, listening to my intuition, and embracing flexibility as well as trusting myself and the light within me to illuminate the next step rather than needing the entire path revealed in advance.
What at the heart of this reading for me is that the light comes from within.
The image of the woman illuminating the path from her own hand captures this beautifully: our experience, knowing, and intuition become the light by which we move - and for me, this means really embodying myself as Light as trusting the path I am on and the roots I have earned through life's trials and tribulations and the healing from this, come with me. These roots are mine.
The second half of the reading introduces an important complication: postponement - sometimes, most often, almost always - things do not happen on our identity or ego's timeline. And trusting the timing in the journey is critical.
There will be moments when it looks as though nothing is happening. We may question whether we are getting anywhere or wonder why what we want still seems so far away. We may remember - there is experience within us that lies dormant...
The invitation isn't to force our way through by forcing and controlling outcomes. The invitation is to release what has become extra weight - release the burdens - and return to inner presence in the here and now, and reclaim our power - standing strong in the peace this brings.
In the reading, flexibility, symbolized by the willow reminds me of the weeping willow - swaying and flowing with the air and winds - rooted firmly in the ground. And, in the reading, this was followed by Building Your World- creating it and expanding in through networking.
Ultimately - this journey speaks to flowering - that the seeds planted along the way become visible as they emerge from their soil growing their roots, with an equally important invitation:
Savor what you have created before racing toward the next thing.
Three Guiding Questions came through from this reading:
- What am I creating that I can trust deeply enough to stop gripping, chasing, or questioning whether it is mine?
- What am I carrying that is no longer aligned with where I am going, and what becomes possible when I release it?
- If I trusted my own intuition to illuminate the path, what is the next rooted, courageous step I would take?
And there is a beautiful September mantra already contained within the reading:
I created this... I am a creator... I am creation.
NOT, this happened to me.
NOT, I finally got lucky.
NOT, someone else opened the gate.
But:
I slowed down, like the way of the turtle.
I listened deeply within.
I released what was necessary.
I chose accordingly.
I moved in the direction I was being called toward.
And I created this.
That feels like the destination of the entire September journey: not simply reaching the other side of the gate, but recognizing ourselves as the creator of the life flowering from within and around us.
Before We Step Into Action, I Offer a Gentle Invitation
Psychodrama invites us to move beyond thinking about our experience and into an encounter with life. We come out of our conceptual heads and move into embodied action. Even a simple exercise can sometimes bring forward unexpected feelings, memories, sensations, or insights.
As you explore the invitations that follow, let yourself remain in choice.
Some practices for staying grounded:
- You don't have to go anywhere internally that doesn't feel right for you. Slow down, modify an exercise, create more distance, imagine the action rather than enact it physically, or simply stop.
- Stay connected to the present moment and the environment around you.
- Feel your feet on the ground. Notice your breath. Look around the room. Remember where you are: right here, right now.
- Choose material that feels workable rather than overwhelming.
- If something begins to feel too intense, return your attention to the present and whatever helps you feel grounded and supported.
- Remember: this is an invitation to curiosity, not a demand for catharsis.
These psychodrama-inspired exercises are offered for personal exploration and education. They are not psychotherapy and are not a substitute for individualized mental health care or facilitated psychodrama. Experiences involving trauma, acute grief, or material that feels destabilizing may be better explored with the support of an appropriately trained professional.
Most importantly:
You are the authority on your own participation.
The Psychodrama: Embody your Intention
Psychodrama gives us a way to take something we are experiencing internally and place it into action.
So, wherever you are right now, imagine that the space around you is your psychodrama stage.
Step 1. Concretize Your Possibility
Begin with the question:
Where am I heading? What am I creating?
Choose an object to represent your possibility and place it somewhere in the room.
Notice where you place it. Is it close to you, or far away? Is it directly in front of you or somewhere off to the side? There is no right answer but only the practice of simply noticing.
Now move toward your possibility and step into its place - embody it and speak from it.
If your possibility could speak to you, what would it say? What does it know? What does it want you to know?
Step 2. Using an empty chair - concretize your obstacle
Now consider: What is stopping me? Or perhaps asking the deeper question, What has become stopped in me? Now, place this obstacle in an empty chair. Then, stand or sit across from it, leaving enough distance to experience yourself as separate from it.
Get related to it: Look at it. And speak directly to it. What do you want to say? What has this obstacle cost you? How has it protected you? What have you believed because of it? What do you want it to know now?
Step 3. Return With the Wisdom of Possibility
Now return to the place where you concretized your possibility. Step into it again, become it, and feel what happens in your body and listen deeply. Then return to your own place and face the obstacle again. This time, speak to it after having been infused with the wisdom of your possibility.
Notice what is different now? What can you say now that you couldn't say before? Has the obstacle changed? Or have you changed in relationship to it?
Step 4. Explore Other Possible Roles
If it feels useful, expand your psychodrama.
Create places in the room for:
- Fear.
- Courage.
- Intuition.
- Postponement.
- Possibility.
You do not need to work with all of them. Choose whichever roles call to you. Step into each role and allow yourself to embody each one rather than analyze it. From each position, ask:
What do you want me to know?
Then return to your own place.
Pause.
Notice.
As you move through these roles, something begins to happen:
That which has been invisible becomes visible.
And once we can see something, we have more freedom in how we relate to it.
Bring It Into Form: Create a Collage
To complete your experience, I invite you to create a collage from what you discovered.
Don't worry about making it beautiful or getting it "right."
Let yourself be drawn toward images, words, colors, textures, symbols, or phrases that represent what emerged.
Perhaps your college includes the gate.
The willow.
The turtle.
Roots.
Light.
The obstacle.
The intention.
The thing you are releasing.
Or the possibility you are moving toward.
Let the collage become a physical expression of your experience—something you can return to when you forget what you discovered.
Place it somewhere you will see it.
And when you do, let it remind you:
I don't need to see the whole path.
I can bring my roots with me.
I can listen within.
I can illuminate the next step.
I can release what no longer belongs.
I can move toward what is calling me.
And, perhaps most importantly:
I created this.
