January 14, 2004
sumac - step by step to a better thought
A touch of color is returning. A good sign. Unfortunately, a thought has not bubbled up from the darkness. We're all waiting.
Unfortunately, there is no spell checker to be found on Moveable Type.
Unfortunately, the most interesting thing I can think of is what's for dinner. Chili, made from Alice's Restaurant Cookbook, the Alice of Arlo Guthrie fame. I bought it when it first came out. Just like my mother bought her Fanny Farmer Cookbook personally from Fanny. Do I date myself?
I only make chili once a year for my Psychomotor Group. This is the overrun from that batch.
Yet another group? This one is very special, in that it has been meeting every year for twenty six years. There used to be ten of us. One moved to New Zealand, one bullshited himself right out of the group. Now we are eight.
Albert Pesso leads the group. He facilitates a "structure" for each of us. Every year, one by one, we each confront an aspect of ourselves that needs healing. The antidote to the trauma is always contact with an ideal parent (skillfully played by one of the group) who would have helped "back then" in an empathic and soothing way. Unlike psychotherapy, which is all words, Psychomotor is done with the body. The body, in fact, leads the structure, with it's signals, twitches, constrictions, desires to move in one direction or another. Al tracks body language exquisitely and helps each of us to find the center of our truth. We have witnessed one another's development and unfolding over the years, learning from a brilliant teacher. The Group is a precious gift. One that is not available in a catalog.