Family Session: Take 2! Same family: Two parents with three “kids” ages 25, 18 and 14. Adoption. Trauma. Diagnoses and labels. Three to four hours together in the frozen tundra of Minnesota on a Saturday before the holidays.
Using prayer and intention, the priority possibility that kept surfacing involved crafting together. How does crafting fit into a Brain Gym® session? Is it worth their investment? It turns out—yes, it is a powerful experience on many levels!
Explosion
The name alone engaged the 18-year-old. Explosion—what’s exploding??!! Paper and glue grabbed the 14-year-old. Creating. The 25-year-old and the dad weren’t attached one way or another. And being the session is mom’s idea—she trusted me implicitly.
As an educator, I think in terms of direct and indirect objectives. Desired Direct Outcome: build 12 boxes that nest inside one another. Indirect Outcomes: cooperate, collaborate, practice precision and expend energy creating, in order to give as a gift.
When we finished, it indeed felt like the intended outcomes had been met.
Energy on Many Levels
We celebrated with apple crisp that I made at home. After working for an hour on “giving”, now they practiced “receiving” the snack (an indirect outcome). The direct outcome was nourishing our bodies.
But what about other energy? We used the Energy Ball to demonstrate how our attitude and behavior affects those around us. I am me. I make my own circuit. And once I understand my own self, I am more able to understand how I fit within the family system. Each participant was fascinated with the concept of impacting one another positively and/or negatively. We even used the ball to connect as a family to end our time energetically united.
Keys, Doors, Change
What happens in a session is always dynamic. It is never the same. While I may come in with a bag of supplies and a mental list of ideas, it is absolutely paramount that I remain open to possibilities. And then keys fit, doors open (or close), and new possibilities are uncovered.
It might be finding the key to connection. Or it might be locking the door to egocentric “all about me” behavior.
It might be finding the key to presence and releasing the key to fast-paced reactive behavior.
A craft project can indeed be the key to positive change!
