Journal

Started with a question, ‘What is Small World Play?’
Thought is might have something to do with the Sand tray, learn that it is not limited to just that. The scope expand to use of any clearly define space on which, using small objects one creates the current representation of the experience of ones inscape, one can further expand to tell a story.
On a paper plate I saw my own example of the duality. Aptly named ‘Twins?? we R not’, I later recognized as ‘Two sides of a coin’. As time goes on and after several revisits, I became aware not only the differences but the similarity of each ‘pair’; the 2 rocks and the yellow ‘crystals’ were placed slightly apart , this I am unable to bring any meaning and remain puzzled about. The tortoise and the shark confronting each other gave me the most interesting dialog of what’s needed to be gently returned to the vast ocean of freedom and the speed might be just a wee bit too slow at the moment.

The next is the IT obstacle, face with the challenge of on line tutorial and supervision and the schedule, I went for the - do what you can mode.
Following the details of noting then the relationship between the objects if any, the focal point, the source of energy and direction, the empty areas if any; then base on gut and heart, giving the head its analytical role, come to some sort of an understanding of where its coming from and how to best plant seeds for self healing. Taking into consideration the age, a look at the developmental task, and generate a hypothesis to work from, bearing in mind that it is but a hypothesis.

Reading The Stages of individuation as Stages of the Sandplay reminded me of the grieving process, Cognitive Ego= denial,
Chaos and retrieval of intuition as initiation = idealization and bargaining,
Deeper uncovering of feelings = blaming, sadness, anger and guilt,
Centering and returning to oneself = accepting, coming to terms,
Returning home= reestablishment of self, carrying/moving on.
This is indicative to me that each SWP is also only indication of the moment, and to interpret it may lead to misinformation, a series of SWP will be more useful even as an assessment tool.

With the ALS - Cracking the code gave an unexpected buzz as it felt like an achievement. Working online with the group, without the benefit of 2 way communication was not easy. The support of the group especially Melinda and Seok Binn was really encouraging. The mission seemed almost an impossibility at first. I know if left to myself it would be a major struggle to navigate the internet then once getting the info. to then plug them in a presentation; may be given 3months and a capable assistant who is IT savvy. In taking the easy way out by allocating task and leaving the massive IT link and the bulk of the work to those better at it, I felt the load was an unfair balance. In this case I let the others carry the heavier part of the load.
The use of Small World Play as a base for story telling is one that I’ve used and can remember a client who had me sharing combined stories of both our trays. Felt glad that I’ve got some of it right, hopefully with more experience will be able to adjust to optimal distancing and find the correct seeds to plant.

trying to catch my tail

feels like a fish in the woods finding a pond, how did I get here and now to trace the trail so as not to get lost again. just marked the trail by putting this page in favorites. as time is pressing will return later to add more.