By Dr. Gail Cloud
I want to talk about the power of story. Just as it is important to move your body, it is important to tell your story and tell your families stories.
In families, stories get lost and often secrets remain.
If we think about it, what family doesn’t deal at some time with loss, embarrassing situations, small petty crimes and bigger ones, someone with a disability or that has been institutionalized for health issues, mental health issues, etc. Usually when such things happen, we don’t like to talk about those things, and we want to just go on. The problem is that when we do that, there never gets to be healing conversations between people involved in hurt and betrayal, for example. Those pains remain hidden inside of us, slowly eroding our health and our lives and the quality of our lives. Then the next generation develops issues related to the original traumas such as depression, addiction, anxiety, failed relationships, and health. Hurts need to find some kind of resolution.
So, hearing stories, telling your story helps not only you to heal, but helps others to have ideas as to what happened initially that may have created the very issue you carry. It gives you insight and awareness that your issue may not have started with you.
So, tell your story. I will tell one of mine through a poem I wrote as part of a memoir to my family.
LOSING HIS MIND
Then there came the time
When he got tangled in white collar crime
I ask, was it his mind that had begun to unravel?
His words also disappeared and became all scrambled
And then one day I got a call,
In it I could tell he was really enthralled
“Come meet us for dinner,
we have become winners”
He went to Amsterdam as part of a big international scam
These people, they befriended him
He gave them his trust
And then he gave them all of his and others’ money
Family, friends and patients alike
All the fake money and friends became his honeys.
With this began a new trend
From then on the scammers were his friends
Nigerian, European, and even a trip to Paris they financed
They had to clean the money that dad took from others in advance
He took from his friends, his patients and even his colleagues
Their trust in him made them believe
Promising them much money in return he was out of his league
He was very sincere
But soon it all did disappear
He lost it all, lost everything
He lost his house and his car
And then he sold everything more
My brother lent him money to keep his house
Next thing I know mom and he were kicked out
This was all for his legacy which was really a lunacy
His mind is without words
His trust and judgment in others impaired
He was left with nothing
His mind all a crumble, and he wasn’t a dime spared
He took from others as he himself was taken
From this there was no way he could awaken
White collar crime, all for a dime
Ah what a time it was
His mind now lost and a jumble
Share yours. And if you would like some guidance or assistance in understanding yours or telling yours, set up a session: gail@bodypresencing.com., 314-995-9755