Healing through Storytelling

Hello beautiful souls how are you? I’ve been absent on social media for a bit – what’s new? I hear you cry. Well – it’s been a busy (but strange) time. I’ve had the joy of working with a great bunch of people in Peter Williams’ Inna Powa group exploring our themes and life purpose. I always put a lot of work into these workshops because (for the teaching part) I want people to come out of the sessions with something of value at the end of it. Something they have learned or can use for themselves. For that to happen you can’t just wing it and hope it all comes to you on the night. You have to create enough structure to focus the session – yet enough awareness of the magic of the moment to know when, once you’ve created the safe space, you can step back and allow conversation and healing to unfold.

Tiring yes – but BOY do I love sharing and teaching my passion. I particularly love the connections with like-minded souls and the stories that are shared as a result. I’ve also got a few writing projects in progress which is always exciting. These projects are all about – hearing people’s stories, their truth and their experiences. So yes – a busy time.

As many of you know we are looking for a new place to call home, having sold Lorikeet Lane in November. It’s been strange living here in Long Beach and I have felt very unsettled with it all. Trusting the Universe really does call for nerves of steel sometimes. Living right next to the beach has been intense … healing… but so very raw at times. I sometimes feel I am craving the calm embrace of greenery, yet I know the sea air and connecting to the ancient sands beneath my feet is doing me a lot of good.

In amongst it all, my beautiful, dear friend, Faye came to visit for a couple of days. It was the most amazing experience as we both entered what felt like a 2-day spiritual journey in the form of conversation and sacred storytelling. It was deeply healing and through talking and connecting we were able to unpack some of our thoughts and emotions about our lives. It occurred to me women really do have to talk things through to process and heal. Sharing stories and experiences is just so powerful. Mr P is wonderful in so many ways, but he’s not really one to talk for hours on end at the best of times. He keeps things fairly tightly buttoned around here – no matter how much I ‘encourage’ him to let loose in the chat department. I had been trying to explain my feelings about the ‘trees’ around here. Their energy just felt ‘heavy’ and ‘off’ but it’s not a conversation your software developer, left-brained significant other can really take part in is it? “Mmm yes dear – the energy of these trees … yup definitely off…”

To give you some background, I had connected with a deep sense of grief and sadness in North Batemans Bay and I haven’t been able to shake it off. It’s a place I normally equate with happiness and holidays. I had wondered if it was my own sadness but through my time with Faye, we realised I was tapping into the trapped grief of the fires down here. She shared about some of her own stories about her connection to an incredible woman who had been doing amazing work in Milton (an area affected by the fires in 2019). No sooner had the fires retreated (and people’s devastated lives were laid bare), when COVID hit, and people had to stay away from one another instead of supporting each other through their respective trauma. Because these people couldn’t come together to share their experiences and support one another as they would normally, their trauma was stored deep within every fibre of their being. People were left feeling they just had to carry on the best way they could. Through Faye’s sharing I could make sense oif what I was tapping into here. People needed to come together – to talk -to heal the energy that is trapped here.

For me, just being able to talk with a friend who is gifted in the art of listening and then for her to be able to tap into those energies too – it was the healing I hadn’t realised I needed.

I feel sure there must be a reason we landed here – beyond tapping into this grief. I didn’t feel I wanted to stay here – it felt too heavy, but maybe I am meant to help shine some light here. All I know for sure is I am itching to unpack my crystals and my treatment couch and shine Gaia’s Light brighter than ever in its new studio. So as I write this I am visualising ‘unpacking my joy’ (thank you Faye for this phrase) in the new place – wherever it might be.

One thing being here has brought to the fore though is our need for connections to each other – whether that’s online in a group like Inna Powa, with dear friends or perhaps in Circle. We also need to rediscover that lost art of storytelling – that is our own personal narrative form of storytelling. We need to allow people to identify their themes and share their stories by creating a safe space. You might even feel you need a good yarn too. There’s nothing like it when it comes to putting the world to rights. In fact, my best friend Louise and I used to call them our ‘granny meetings’ (even when we were 17). I think there may have been implied wisdom there about the older women coming together to sort things out – but at that age, we just knew we felt better for having had a full night of talking and sharing.

Narrative storytelling can inspire others, help create meaning, deepen identity, purpose and belonging and can connect us to a world beyond our own experiences.  It can help us process trauma, pain and suffering. If we listen without judgement, we honour a person’s experience and that’s when their inner light shines brightest of all.

We are still living in unsettling times, there is a feeling the dust hasn’t quite settled around the world. So if you are wondering how you can help others navigate a painful path, connect with a kind word and smile. The gift of your time and a listening ear could make all the difference – and it could be just what you need too. Let’s stay connected. Let’s start sharing our stories again. We need to honour what we’ve all been through and heal each other with our listening ear and compassionate heart. Love and light always xx

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