What does it take to claim well our well being?
There are many paths to wholeness: therapy is, of course, one of them but so is creative expression through various forms of artistry.
In an article titled "Trauma Survivors & the Broken-Hearted: Don't miss out on this kind of Therapy." posted on Elephant Journal I wrote:
"It is often in the practice of our craft that catharsis occurs. In sharing our joy and our pain, that expression becomes more than ours alone—it becomes universal. Yes, therapy is helpful, but so is play. Play is the natural means through which we move energy and explore reality. Think about it: Great sex? Play! A sport you enjoy, you play. Painting is playing with paint. Music can’t be spoken of without the word play. And for me, writing is playing with words. Big and small feelings, and ideas fly from my fingertips up onto the screen.
It is possible to play with anything in our life when we bring curiosity and compassion to the forefront of our awareness. A light heart may generate opportunities and outcomes that a rigid mindset will never produce."
I met Marci Brockmann as students attending Elephant Academy. We were both there to waken our writer's potential and find our voice. Not only did we succeed in this endeavor—Marci completed and published her memoir and I have written more consecutively than ever in my life!—we formed a sweet friendship. With similarities in our family backgrounds and the desire to share ourselves and what has helped us to heal we offer you this conversation, FromTrauma to Peace, episode 2 from Marci's Podcast, "Permission to Heal."
Click here to check out the episode!
Learn more about Marci Brockmann.
PERMISSION TO LAND: SEARCHING FOR LOVE, HOME & BELONGING, by Marci Brockmann - A memoir about surviving narcissistic abuse and addiction and learning to thrive and love yourself to build a life of love, joy, success, and friendship.
PERMISSION TO LAND: PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH WRITING, by Marci Brockmann - a guided journal workbook with over 100 pages of writing prompts
- to help you uncover your past, illuminate your present,
- to guide you into your own bright, hopeful future with more clarity, awareness, and confidence than ever before.
Both Books are available wherever books are sold online.
Buy your own PERSONALLY signed copy of the memoir and get the workbook and a custom bookmark for free. Use code BookBundleDeal at checkout on www.marcibrockmann.com.
“I was parenting myself from a very young age, which really set me up for a lifetime of unhealthy behaviors that would characterize my lifelong relationship with my mother. I became a people pleaser—a trait I would carry throughout my life, in every situation with every boyfriend, with every friend, with every teacher, with every boss. I rarely really respected my own needs or said how I actually felt because that was secondary to making people like me, to making sure a situation and everyone who was involved remained calm. As the pleaser and the diplomat, I became, in my mind, the person who selflessly does what she thinks the other person wants, tries to predict what they want her to do, who does whatever she can do to conform to her perception of what will make the person love her, be proud of her, make any situation better, easier, smoother, more peaceful, more consistent. I needed to please them to make them like me so I would like myself and feel I was worthy of love.
It was not until I was able to be free of those relationships and their inherent power struggles and inequities that I was even remotely able to do the same with my mother. And, as we know, it didn’t happen until after she died. That’s very sad.
It was not until I was able to be free of those relationships and their inherent power struggles and inequities that I was even remotely able to do the same with my mother. And, as we know, it didn’t happen until after she died. That’s very sad.
What I didn’t realize at the time was that I was losing or ignoring all of my boundaries and my sense of self, so the person that they were in a relationship with wasn’t actually me but some incarnation of me that I fabricated to try to please them. Then they would be confused because they were not actually in a relationship with the real me, just the fake me, who did not actually exist. At some point, I was resentful because I didn’t get to be the real me or even get to know her. And, consequently, I was lost in those relationships. Because here’s the truth: I didn’t have them in the first place.” –Excerpted from Permission to Land: Searching for Love. Home & Belonging by Marci Brockmann.
Podcast
The Permission to Heal podcast with Marci Brockmann is about sharing inspiring stories of healing journeys and giving ourselves permission to heal, permission to love ourselves, and build amazing lives.
You are loved.
You are worthy.
You are enough.
You get to choose how you respond to things.
You get to choose how you deal (or don’t deal) with your feelings.
You get to choose to let go when you’re ready, and when it no longer serves you.
You get to create healthy boundaries because they are good for you and keep you sane, whole, and in control of your time and mind.
Listen Free on Spotify
Listen Free on Apple Podcasts
Connect with Marci Brockmann
Website- www.marcibrockmann.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/marci527
Facebook Group - Permission to Heal...Safe to Fly
Instagram - @marcibrockmann27
Twitter - https://twitter.com/marcibrockmann
Email - MarciBrockmann@gmail.com
Title image: Colossal Shell of Light by Marci Brockmann. Find more of Marci's art on her site!
If you would like to be a guest writer for my site please contact me with a proposal! And please subscribe and share this post, if so inspired.