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From: Dr Eric Miller (PhD in Folklore, MSc in Psychology) Workshop: "Create your own fantasy
Healing-story," 12:30am-2:00am on Sunday 28th Feb, in Chennai
Storytelling Festival 2021. Notes / Outline Introduction What is this all about? -- Improve
communication with one's (individual and collective) unconscious -- a
resource one could draw upon. Carl Jung Source: A) Explicate. (Regarding one's life
experience, "What jumps out at you?" Identify outstanding elements, archetypes Source,
recurring themes, turning points, and defining moments of one's Life
Story.) B) Amplify. (Make associations. Compare
events in one's life with events in fairytales, epics, etc.) C) Active Imagination. (Seek to summon
images and objects from one's unconscious, and role-play with them.) Storytelling Therapy Source: Adding to Jung's method -- D) Play with the material (make changes,
role-play), E) Compose a healing / transforming story for
oneself. "The right story will do its work on
you" (Unknown author). What work
needs to be done on you? The right
story might inspire, guide, and help one to connect with one's inner self,
and with aspects of one's culture. ___________________________ 1)
Life (and Life Story) Review What is going well? What is not going so well? In what areas of your life (personal and/or
professional) are things going well? In what areas of your life (personal and/or
professional) is there "room for improvement"? In what areas of your life might you like
to do more, or do better? What changes, developments, transformations
are you hoping for and looking forward to? What do you want to make? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? Who do you want to meet? What and who do you want to become? Let us focus on areas of frustration and
impatience. Yearnings for
something. Feelings of incompleteness
and not being on track to fully fulfilling one's potential. ? In what areas of your life are you
like: A bird who can't fly. An airplane that can't get off the ground. ? Is there an area of your life in which --
despite your interests, intentions, and hopes -- to date you have been a "late
bloomer" (not yet bloomed). Challenges.
Yearnings. Frustrations. Hopes. Dreams.
Wishes. -- ACTIVITY: WRITE _________________________________________ To connect you to your culture -- "Dip a memory of an experience in the
'amniotic fluid' of the collective unconscious" (Unknown author). The amniotic fluid is
the protective liquid in the amniotic sac, within which a fetus grows. This
fluid serves as a cushion for the fetus, and also serves to facilitate the
exchange of nutrients, water, and biochemical products between mother and
fetus. 2)
Associations / Amplifications. See if your experiences remind you of any
other character's experiences (from fairytales, epics, movies, or any other
realm of culture). -- ACTIVITY:
WRITE Breakout Rooms -- ACTIVITY: TALK. Return to Main Room for sharing and
discussion. _________________________________________ Life (and Life Story) Review
(continued) * In your experience, what are some Personal
issues, Social issues, and Environmental issues? * What are some of your strengths and
weaknesses, and how have these manifested themselves in specific events in
your life? * What are some of your most favorite
memories, and least favorite memories? * What do you tend to think about, again and
again? * What are some of your "pet
peeves"? * In what ways would you like society to be
improved? * In what ways would you like your self to be
improved? * In what ways would you like your
circumstances to be improved? * When you day-dream, what do you tend to
day-dream about? -- ACTIVITY:
WRITE 3)
Active Imagination Source Summon and converse with an object -- ACTIVITY:
IMAGINE. _________________________________________ Use any of the above to create a metaphorical
(fantasy) story that encapsulates the challenges you are facing, and the transformations you are seeking. Present some metaphors, and benefits of using
metaphors. Source -- Metaphor
therapy. Source -- Susan
Perrow's essay about metaphors. Get some distance from the material -- 1) Tell it in 3rd person (project it onto a
character external to your self. 2) Seek to project it onto figures very
different from yourself -- Animals.
Princess and prince, queen and king.
Plants. Geometrical
shapes. 2- and 3-dimensional objects. A person of a gender, culture, time period,
etc, other than yours. You might want to
pretend that there is a character who is bewitched, under a spell, or who has
been cursed. How and why did the
bewitchment come about? How could the
spell be broken? How could the curse
be lifted? In psychological
terms, one could compare a person in a fairytale who is bewitched, to someone
in whom one structural entity of the human psyche has been damaged in its
functioning and is unable to function normally. To be bewitched means
that a particular structure of the psyche is damaged in its functioning, and
the whole is affected. In fairytales, spells
are often broken by means of a long period of love, devotion, dedication, and
effort -- and then with bold action, a breakthrough. Is there something
that is injured, malnourished, undeveloped, unsupported, blocked, frozen,
not-growing, not-functioning, not-developing inside you? Source: The Psychological Meaning of Redemption
Motifs in Fairy Tales, by Marie-Louise von Franz. Toronto: Inner City
Books. 1980. 4)
6-Part Story-making (6PSM) Source
(CSF 2021 video interview with Dr Alida Gersie, primary inventor of the
6PSM.) Summon a character, environment, situation,
etc -- ACTIVITY: DRAW. Breakout Rooms -- ACTIVITY:
TALK. (We did not have time
for this.) Return to Main Room for sharing and discussion. *** *** *** "Creating one's own fantasy healing-story" is a
culminating step in the Storytelling Therapy process that Dr Eric is helping
to develop. Links to Dr Eric's writings regarding Storytelling Therapy are here. Info about training Dr Eric gives in Storytelling Therapy is here. <end> |