Shannon's Corner

  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....

  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...

  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 ...

  When life shifts—whether by choice or circumstance—our emotions often rise to the surface. Do you notice them? Acknowledge them? Or do you try to shove them down and press forward?   Maybe you feel everything all at once. Or maybe you’re unsure what you’re feeling at all. Either way, you’re not alone.   Think of emotions like the lights on a car dashboard. When one comes on, it’s a signal that something under the hood needs attention. Emotions work the same way—especially during transitions.   That tightness in your chest? The tears that catch you off guard? The irritation or numbness? These are signals worth noticing. They might point to fatigue, grief, fear, hope, or even growth.   Instead of ignoring the warning light, what would it look like to get curious? To gently ask: What’s going on beneath the surface? What needs care, support, or attention right now?   Life transitions are full of unknowns. But tuning in to your emotions can be a compass—helpin...

  Sitting in a lecture room with a guest speaker talking about Third Culture Kids (TCKs), I personally did not think that I would learn much. But I was curious to learn who are TCKs. The more the guest speaker talked about the life of a TCK, the more I was on the edge of my seat and leaning in. She was talking about me. Every word, the challenges TCKs face, the emotions, the losses, and transitions, she was describing my life in ways that I would not ever have been able to because I did not have the language. I so related to everything she said about TCKs as it mirrored my life almost to a “T” except the cross-cultural living part. It was mind-blowing!! What was amazing is now I had language. I was then able to start processing and understanding the nebulous like parts of my 30 years of life.   Language gives us meaning. Emotions give language to what is happening inside us. I heard somewhere that there is close to 300 emotion words and that the average adult only knows and/or...

  In my formative years, I was shaped with the message of how others matter and were important by arriving 10-20 minutes early, depending on the situation. In my early adulthood, I continued showing up 10-20 minutes before the expected time. I never gave thought to the ‘why’ behind it. It was just automatic.   I moved to Peru, and I automatically was arriving 10-20 minutes earlier than the designated time. There was this transitional stress happening within me because of moving cross-culturally. Even though I learned the concept about cultural differences which time is one of them, I did not stop to acknowledge this difference and became more and more frustrated. Once I did acknowledge the difference of the value of time in Peruvian culture, I started making some subtle shifts.   Some subtle shifts were to arrive just on time or a little after the designated time. I learned to have a book or something to do to pass the time until the person was ready, or the meeting would...