Stories

Before contemporary psychology, ‘stories’ were passed down orally by the ‘old ones’ for wisdom, guidance, and, of course, entertainment. Now, myths, fairytales, and folktales can still be explored to find solutions and wisdom for our personal and collective problems. 

Like dreams [hyperlink ] and tarot [hyperlink], these old stories activate the deep psyche through their rich symbolism in their odd characters, elements, and surreal narratives. This can serve to open doorways to different aspects of life and self that are not easily accessed through cerebral, logical, and rational practices. 

I find that bringing these strange and wonderful tales into group work has a way of stirring each person's mythic depths, adding to the collective cauldron and finding new shared meaning.

Similarly, you can start to view your own life story as one that carries great meaning and symbolic significance. I’m not talking about your grievance story (although that is certainly part of it) but your personal story, which includes that of your family and ancestors [hyperlink] (known and unknown) and your community. 

This is your personal life myth.

We all have a story to tell. Who we are, where we are from, where we are at, and how we ended up where we are. Why are we here wanting to make things different … ? What we want, where we want to be, where our souls want us to be …

Sometimes these personal life myths are based on half-truths, misinformation or missing information, limited vision, full lies, or coercion. They are particular to place, time, culture, experience, attitude and world view.  

Therapy can be seen as a process of rewriting your life myth - re-story-ing. Not to make things up or as false positivity, but as a way to enrich, expand and deepen the story of your life. It's also a story you keep writing from the present moment perspective and into your future.

Re-storying is at the heart of my current big project: the archetypal Rites of Passage for girls and women across the lifespan. [hyperlink]