Journaling with a Photograph
I chose a picture of my three childhood friends and I, which was taken in the backyard of our ranch. The chosen picture was taken eight years ago during the burial ceremony of my grandfather. When I look at this picture, nostalgic feelings of my friends in the picture and of my beloved grandfather come up. On the day and the time, we took the photos, the weather was bright, and the ceremony was warm and more of a celebration than a burial. The picture was taken when the ceremony was about to end and my friends together with I took photo for remembrance. Even though it was a burial, I can clearly remember how happy and jovial we were. This is because countless family friends and distant relatives converged for the ceremony to give their final respect to the dead. Even though I was expected to be formal and somber, the presence and the love from my friends lifted up my spirit.
The photo reminds me not only of my gone grandfather but also of my beloved friends who are presently far away in Australia. I miss these dear ones so much! In the photo, our thoughts are not only drawn to our friendship, but also towards the good memories of my grandfather. Though he was too old to associate with the younger generation, my grandfather was witty and so warm- such welcoming characteristics that drew the young and the old to together. No wonder so many people traveled from far away states to come and give him an honorable send-off. This photo jogs my memory towards our early childhood and our good times with my grandfather, which so greatly affirmed my friendship towards these great friends. I imagine my friends’ voices confirming their friendship towards me despite the distance apart we may be from each other.
Letter Writing
Dear Kelly,
It has really been such a long time since we ever saw each other, leave alone talk to each other. I cannot keep my mind off you, nevertheless, because I was once in love with you in high school. You used to be so active in our class; you answered so many questions different teachers posed to us, classmates. You used to read ahead of the teacher and ask mind-boggling questions concerning different subjects. You were a brilliant young lady and such a promising scientist! Your brilliance made me draw close to you and even fall in love with you, without your knowledge. I always looked forward to sharing common courses with you and even sitting close to you. Even though we did not talk much, I constantly looked forward to the time I would get to know you better. I constantly felt instant attraction to you, even though you were so much brilliant and serious with your studies. I loved you just as a teenager’s heart would love somebody.
Though it has been ten years since we last met, I still feel the same attraction towards you. I have tried to date other women, but the love I had for you keeps resurfacing over my head and in my heart. I know it may sound funny to you, but I miss you so much. I know you may not feel the same way I feel but in case you ever acknowledge the love I have for you; the door is open waiting for you to come to me. I may never see you again but still I bear the hope of opening my heart to you as my love. As I write this letter, I imagine how happy I would be the day you will show up and try to adore me. Otherwise, I foresee my life being so lonely and full of nostalgia. I know you may be miles away from me but I feel you deserve to know that someone was really in love with you.
Always yours,
Nelson, Former Classmate
Guided Imagery
I am privileged of having a healer within me. Through The healer, I have been able to relax and find solutions to numerous questions that have been boggling my mind all through. The messages to the questions have in turn supported and encouraged me to find more solutions through the healer within me. I have managed to make great shifts and change as I align my thoughts with the healer. I greatly appreciate the inner healer as it has shed more light in my thoughts making me shine the more, not only within but also in my physique.
It is my heartfelt honor to unite with the healer to contribute positively to mother earth for the services of humanity through rest and peace. I have been favored to shed the outer layer that is deeply connected to the stresses and pain in this life even as I deeply relate with the truth in the healer. You healer remain a strong pillar within me and of utmost significance to me as I make healthy and essential changes in life. I am certain I will experience unlimited potential that resides within me. From the moment I rested, I have felt immense healing in my spirit. I continually experience unsettling energy that is emanating from me. I realize that I have been craving for stability and peace and have long searched for it from the outside of myself for a long time now. Much credit to you as I release all the suppression and repression of pain that has been lying within me.
Week Five
Psychodrama is an action method applied in psychotherapy where clients can apply spontaneous role-playing to evaluate and develop deeper insights into their own lives. It is a professional practice, which employs achievement methods based on the presumption, values, and methodology of Jacob Moreno (Moreno 1966). Psychodrama involves essentials of drama that are mostly conducted on a stage. This new approach creatively enables individuals to explore and find solutions to the clinical and community-based settings.
The article illustrates place and experience of catharsis in psychodrama in different aspects (Kellerman 1984). In one aspect, the article highlights drama where a person raises emotional and problematic complications to enact on stage. Numerous scenes are enacted to depict memories of specific events, dreams, inner conflicts, and uncompleted challenges. The article further highlights Moreno’s theory of ‘spontaneity-creativity.’ Moreno considered that the best approach for any person to respond creatively to challenges is by spontaneity (Moreno 1959). The theory entails submission of preparedness to improvise and respond to the situations. By motivating an individual to face the problem creatively, react spontaneously and on impulse, people Moreno believed that people would finally discover new approaches to their problems in life and learn innovative roles they can play within the situations surrounding them.
The development of the functions of catharsis is as useful psychological approach that assists in the reuniting of the unconscious components of psyche and conscious self (Dayton 2004). Through catharsis in psychodrama, the insensible is expressed, where apparition and hallucinations are used. The mild expression thus facilitates release that further proves that there is a presence of a problem. Catharsis in psychodrama is useful in the revelation of deep and long-standing negative emotions and neutralization of the negative effects of related traumatic experiences.
I suppose catharsis can create profound change from its historical positive contributions it has played in the lives of many people. Catharsis has been identified as a curative, refinement, and transforming experience in the past that has been culturally applied, dramatized, and religiously applied to bring healing. Psychodrama is a modern modality to bring positive change has been a major technique in psychodrama to result in therapeutic change. Catharsis refers to the spontaneous and emotional-somatic discharge of the responsiveness emotional discharge for reliving traumatic occurrences from the past (Szczeklik 2005). The roles of catharsis in psychodrama comprise of reuniting the unconscious components of the psyche to the conscious self. It is a process used to divulge the unfathomable and venerable negative sentiments and counteract those emotions.
Favorite Fairy tale
During my childhood, I really enjoyed listening to the fairy narrative of “Cinderella.” Cinderella is a story of about a young and beautiful maiden who underwent negative treatment from her stepfamily after her parents died. Her life spontaneously changed when she managed to capture the heart of the prince and together lived ‘A happily ever after life’. Although there were numerous versions of the story, I preferred to listen repeatedly about how her stepmother tried to restore Cinderella’s past life by stealing the magic wand from Cinderella’s godmother. Although she did transfer the magic to one of her daughter’s, it was short lived and ultimately, Cinderella managed to outwit her and destroy her for good. Not only did the stepmother’s wishes fail, her eyes were plucked out and eaten by birds and she lived to regret her actions all her life.
I enjoyed listening to this story because it made me muse about how life would be if all the negative feelings and pain were magically turned to life in paradise through a magic wand. I also looked forward to acquiring Cinderella’s beauty and capture the attention of not only the prince but also the entire kingdom at large. Many are the times when my mind used to wander away reflecting on the meaning of the ‘Happily Ever After.” I wished to meet Cinderella in reality and see how she gracefully aged and took care of her kingdom as the queen. This story came as a consolation to me wherever I fell out with any of my friends. I would imagine myself being the Cinderella and instead, mistreat these friends-turned-foes just like the stepmother turned out to be miserable eventually.
Reflections
I would automatically fit into the role Cinderella since she was my favorite character in the narrative. She is naturally beautiful with strawberry colored hair and blue eyes that complemented her brown and faded dress. I would have no company and prefer to remain in the dark bedroom and in the kitchen often times. Since all my life I would have lived in solitude, I would find it difficult to relate well to the new roles that accompanied my sudden luck. Rather than washing and doing the house chores, I would have sufficient house cleaners following me to ensure I was always satisfied and comfortable. Instead of being ordered, I would be the one to give charges and directions. Rather than keep mice and an old cat as friends, I would have more than enough dignitaries burning with desire that I befriend them.
Being a Cinderella seems a wonderful role at face value. Nevertheless, it is a highly demanding role because the story is first, a fairy tale as it was created for entertainment. The time difference varies greatly, with limited similarity to the initial role that Cinderella played. We are living in the modern times where there are no castles and princes to hold ball dances to cement their marriage proposals. Times are different as no beautiful lady would innocently assume house chores that comprise of washing and scrubbing if not for economic stability. Furthermore, the invention of machines and other technologies have minimized domestic home.
Even though I would desire to be Cinderella, her role would initially be tough as life had not been treated her fairly. Instead of socializing normally with human beings, I as the Cinderella would opt for the company of the mice, and the cat at home. Rather than get to enjoy the positive side of being a woman, I would tend to do all the house chores and clean after my stepfamily.
Authentic Self
I shine the most in academic work and mostly in scientific exploration. I prefer science to art as it offers solution to different challenges in our everyday life. From scientific exploration, I have discovered new joy in trying out studies and coming out with innovative findings. The special gifts that I bring to the stage of life, the talents, and the skills I share are mainly related to scientific studies. I am equipped with critical thinking skills, which are highly essential in making decisions and solving problems. To attain a viable solution, I often prefer to gather information first concerning the problem. This calls for great planning and organization skills and results to accurate and correct results at the first trial. The skill is highly essential to me as I am able to save time and money. planning and organization skills are necessary to researchers who are mostly required to be creative thinkers, innovators, and inventive in their research findings.
Although I have sharpened the critical thinking skill for my future career, I feel I need to work out on interpersonal skills. I often find myself having a difficult time cooperate with other members of the group especially in for long-term projects. I realized that the challenge came because of working alone most of the time and enjoying myself when working alone. I find it hard to work with people, and especially those that cannot keep still and concentrate for long hours in a single project. I know that I will have to work as a team in future and hence need to sharpen the interpersonal skills. This skill will enable me to interact freely with people, participate actively in teamwork, become more responsible, and improve working environment. To equip myself with this, I need to overcome one of my greatest fears- speaking in a large gathering of people.
Week Six
Kipper’s article
The article by Kipper on ‘Spontaneity and the Warming Up process in a New Light’ is quite enlightening on the subject of psychotherapy. Kipper (1986) defines spontaneity as the matrix of personality development. Spontaneity offers multitude of openings for clinical embellishment serves as a pointer to conflicting areas and inhibitions. The ability of spontaneity facilitates achievement of the prognostic assessment in the event of therapeutic progress. The difference between ‘warming up process’ and spontaneity is that the former is an effect of external incitement whereas the spontaneity in from within and always internal. The major features of warming up are the situation, adequacy, the warming up threshold, and urgency of change.
Psychodrama is among the influential tools in psychotherapy that has been charmingly illustrated in the article. Modern techniques and approaches on how to apply the approaches are included as a compliment of the conventional verbal approaches for personal, group, educational, or even communal situations. In addition to this, the modern innovative theories and clarifications have been made on the new psycho dramatic processes (Greenberg 2002). These theories offer the best practical primer on the fundamental psychodramatic techniques. The ubiquitous concept of ‘warming up’ from the previous applications to the current specialized applications in psychodrama has been illustrated in the article. The concept captures the basic relational consequences and effects existing in all human activities. ‘Warm up’ concept is widely used in different contexts. The concept encompasses warm up routines in physical education and its effects in relation to fatigue, greater power output, and heart recovery. In different forms of dancing, warm up is applied in extensive preparation for practice and performance. In visual entertainment such as in music and television, it is essential to warm up an audience. Psychotherapies such as group and children counselors warm up individuals before the actual counseling. The concepts of spontaneity and warming up are relevant for anyone for stimulating and influencing other people for improved production and mental alertness.
Personal Journal
If I were more creative, I would be an actor. In my life, I am creative when I sing and try to compose my own sings. What blocks me from expressing my creativity is my low self-esteem, which causes me to fear to stand before people and perform. What I can do to awaken my creativity is to overcome low self-esteem by focusing on my strengths and perfecting on my weaknesses. If I were more spontaneous, I would develop from within me and reflect the growth on the outside. This implies that in my life I am spontaneous when I easily manage my self-esteem and improve my confidence. What blocks me from expressing my spontaneity is the fear of failing to succeed. What I can do to awaken my spontaneity is to encourage myself to keep on trying.
Special outdoor place in my childhood
In my childhood, I always enjoyed going to the mountains with my father and have a view of the monkeys, I used to enjoy looking at their actions that relayed much freedom and liveliness. The mountainside was specially set aside as a brooding centre for the endangered species of the squirrel monkeys. The public was allowed on special occasions to walk through the open enclosures and interact with these animals. I used to enjoy just sitting and watching these monkeys all days and wished I could carry home one of the squirrel monkeys. This is because they were so lovely and enjoyable to watch. Often times I could get an opportunity of carrying a baby monkey and play around with it. The mother would watch my reactions keenly to ensure that I did not hurt the baby. After some time, I would win the mother monkey some approval and quietly play with the baby as it tries to look for tiny things to nibble.
The fact that the monkey was more interested in food than in my company made me carry fruits and snacks in my tiny bag, just to get more company. I could, later on, sit on one of the benches and watch as the monkeys scrambled for sweet corn. These monkeys were just too cute for me to glance and keep moving. I could spend the entire day brushing my hands through the soft fur of the baby monkey and watch as it blinked its eyes at me. Since they were a little bit tiny than other kinds of monkeys, visitors at the mountainside often overlooked them, an aspect that gave me an opportunity to get totally company as I interacted with them.
References
Dayton, T. (2004). The Living Stage: A Step-By-Step Guide to Psychodrama, Sociometry, &
Group Psychotherapy. NY: HCL Publishers.
Greenberg, L. S. (2002). Emotion-focused therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Kellerman, P. F. (1984). The Place of Catharsis in Psychodrama, The Journal of Group
Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, and Sociometry.
Kipper, David (1986) Spontaneity and the Warming Up process in a New Light, Group
Psychotherapy, 20, 62-73.
Moreno, J. L. et al. (1959). The Sociometry Reader. US: Glencoe, III.
Moreno, J. L. (1966). The Creativity Theory of Personality: Spontaneity, Creativity, and Human
Potentialities. NY. Bulletin, Arts & Science, LXVIL19-24
Szczeklik, A. (2005). Catharsis: On the Art of Medicine. (A. Lloyd-Jones, Transl.). Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.