Thought for today:
"It was once said that three may keep a secret, but only if two are dead! This is the constant dilemma that makes secrets both a promise and a prison in which the purpose is to contain truth. Even if you are the only one alive who knows the secret, to avoid it slipping out, it still becomes necessary to hide it from oneself by burying it deep in one's unconscious. We humans are essentially 'strippers' and have a natural desire to reveal things that are concealed when we are either extremely comfortable or are caught off guard. We have an inner need to be our true selves and for others to know us, even when fear can lead us to hide away our real identity. I have long been of the opinion that neither man nor woman are ever what they think they are; they are as much what they hide as they show to the world.
During earlier years when I daily visited schools and other establishments to work with children who had temporarily withdrawn into their own secret world, plus many other occasions when I would read stories to the younger child, out would come 'the magic carpet.'
For the story time sessions, I would often sit on 'the magic carpet' in the middle of the floor as the children who surrounded me listened eagerly as I revealed the mystery and secrets of the unfolding story to them.
I also used 'the magic carpet' method whenever I worked with a number of young children who had been hurt, abused or traumatised. For whatever reason, children are more prone to reveal their inner secrets or speak about tragic, hurtful and fearful events from the comfort and safety of 'the magic carpet.' In essence it is no different from getting traumatised adults to open up in all manner of self help groups by sitting the entire membership in a circle from which their individual secrets spoken of stay within that circle!
Any family member reading this post, particularly a pressurised parent of children who finds it much easier and of less hassle to allow their offspring to eat their meal from the privacy of their bedroom or on the couch in front of the television, think hard before you give up the real bonding power of sitting down together around the family table once a day to talk and eat together: for it is from within this family circle that real talk ensues that proves far more enlightening and meaningful as opposed to the small talk and occasional grunt or resistance to disclose that more often comes from growing children today.
Robert Frost, the American poet had this great capacity of looking in on the world when the world knows not it is being observed. In his short poem, 'The secret sits' he says all that I have said in one sentence: 'We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.'" William Forde: November 4th, 2015.
"It was once said that three may keep a secret, but only if two are dead! This is the constant dilemma that makes secrets both a promise and a prison in which the purpose is to contain truth. Even if you are the only one alive who knows the secret, to avoid it slipping out, it still becomes necessary to hide it from oneself by burying it deep in one's unconscious. We humans are essentially 'strippers' and have a natural desire to reveal things that are concealed when we are either extremely comfortable or are caught off guard. We have an inner need to be our true selves and for others to know us, even when fear can lead us to hide away our real identity. I have long been of the opinion that neither man nor woman are ever what they think they are; they are as much what they hide as they show to the world.
During earlier years when I daily visited schools and other establishments to work with children who had temporarily withdrawn into their own secret world, plus many other occasions when I would read stories to the younger child, out would come 'the magic carpet.'
For the story time sessions, I would often sit on 'the magic carpet' in the middle of the floor as the children who surrounded me listened eagerly as I revealed the mystery and secrets of the unfolding story to them.
I also used 'the magic carpet' method whenever I worked with a number of young children who had been hurt, abused or traumatised. For whatever reason, children are more prone to reveal their inner secrets or speak about tragic, hurtful and fearful events from the comfort and safety of 'the magic carpet.' In essence it is no different from getting traumatised adults to open up in all manner of self help groups by sitting the entire membership in a circle from which their individual secrets spoken of stay within that circle!
Any family member reading this post, particularly a pressurised parent of children who finds it much easier and of less hassle to allow their offspring to eat their meal from the privacy of their bedroom or on the couch in front of the television, think hard before you give up the real bonding power of sitting down together around the family table once a day to talk and eat together: for it is from within this family circle that real talk ensues that proves far more enlightening and meaningful as opposed to the small talk and occasional grunt or resistance to disclose that more often comes from growing children today.
Robert Frost, the American poet had this great capacity of looking in on the world when the world knows not it is being observed. In his short poem, 'The secret sits' he says all that I have said in one sentence: 'We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.'" William Forde: November 4th, 2015.
