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My body told the story

  Author, Chuck DeGroat in his book, ‘ Healing What’s Within ’ says, “When we don’t have the words, our bodies inevitably tell the story of where we really are. Sometimes, our bodies will even do drastic things to get our attention.”   After several years living cross-culturally in Peru, my busyness, people pleasing, and being there for people caught up with me. My need to be needed covered up the warning lights of what was happening within me. I went on a mini vacation with some interns and a colleague which was an amazing trip to be in the Amazon rain forest and to ride on the Amazon River. Then all the lights came on at once as soon as I was home. The pain behind my eyes was not going away with ibuprofen. It got bad enough that I did go to the clinic to get checked out which the doctor thought it was a sinus problem. I went home and medicated myself with Sudafed and ibuprofen and the pain behind my eyes grew worse along with other symptoms. So, I went back to the clinic....
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June Newsletter

  SHANNON’S CORNER Connect. Nurture. Grow. Building connection and trust are important in any relationship and especially when wanting to create a safe place for people to share and process their stories. Sometimes with kids and teens it can take a bit of time to foster those connections and trust. A question that is implied is, “Are you safe to share my story with?” Often it is through play these connections are built. Both families who I debriefed serve in Uganda, they serve with different organizations in the capital of Kampala, and both families are in transition. The one sibling group were ages 3, 6, and 8 years old and as I worked with them, I was able to apply some of the principles I learned in play processing. The other sibling group were ages 5, 7, 13, and 14 years old which was a bit of a challenge for me with the large age span. The main thing for all of them was saying goodbye to friends who have come and gone while they were the ones “left behind”, and for the one sib...

The Body Keeps Score

  We are made up of many parts—our thoughts, emotions, spirit, and body. When we experience hardship, it’s natural to disconnect from some of those parts. Most often, we disconnect ourselves from our emotions and our bodies. This can be a necessary survival response in times of crisis.   But when that disconnect becomes our  normal , we can lose touch with ourselves.   When we live in a constant state of "pushing through," we stop noticing what our body is telling us. We ignore the tension, the fatigue, the heaviness. We silence the emotions that were meant to guide and protect us. And over time, our body carries the burden.    Our body carries what our mind tries to forget. It holds stress, grief, fear, and even unspoken joy. Over time, these unacknowledged experiences build up, showing up as tension, fatigue, or a vague sense of unease.   Body mapping  is one way to begin reconnecting. It’s a gentle, intentional practice of tuning in—naming the ...