Lessons From Hell part 1

So I did a class on Hell this week....Ministry and the Imagination: And He Descended Into Hell. It was an AWESOME class/retreat and I learned a lot from it. So I thought I'd post some lessons from Hell and some Poems from Hell to give you some idea of what I went through. The poems will be in part 2 of this blog post.

The whole few days were amazing. We descended into hell together and ascended back up into the world together. We did this both literally and figuratively via an exercise that was amazing. We smelled hell, felt hell, saw hell, tasted hell, and heard hell. In my group we danced hell and took pictures of what hell was for us (and made pictures of what hell was for us). We choreographed dances in my group that described hell and coming out of it once again. We had fun, too, with massages and ear candling and creating salts and doing all kinds of artwork! The community was the best part, I think. To get to know people better and to care so much more for them. Going through hell and back really connects you with people. The place was beautiful, going out in the snow and watching the sunrise through the window and just....WOW! And now...to the quotes!

"Hell is not having it of yourself to help yourself"- Heather

"One of the deepest regions of hell is for those incapable of community"- from Dante

"People are Hell"-Sarte.... and the ones condemning people to hell- Heather

"We need our own certainties harrowed and this harrowing can feel like hell"- Heather

If we must go to hell...so must Jesus (since he was fully human)

The nature of God is the irreversible diversity.

One reason we need hell is because we have a need to see those who cause harm punished.

"Christ descended into hell as a conqueror not as a victim"- Heather

time and death are not barriers to God's love, so what barrier is there?

We need someone to teach us how to rebuild ourselves and our lives, whether it be a 12 step group or purgatory

"We are called to walk through fire, not walk on water."- Heather

"You have to fight fire with fire (of God"

Late Lessons

Sorry this post is so late, but things have been swirling about me. I loved this week's touch exercises and the interesting thing where my body and mind had totally different reactions to touch, to how it felt to be touched and where. When one was comfortable, the other was not and vice versa. However, as the poem that I'll post here will show you (also posted in my other blog), my body and I, through that, because of that and realizing truly that it has it's own language and feelings, we're becoming one once again, for the first time since I was 3 years old. It's an amazing thing for me to experience, or start to experience in just 4 weeks of class. I can't wait for Tuesday already!

Body (written by "Julie B aka Jewelbird)

Body,
you're lovely
you tell me a story
you're smarter than I realize

Body,
you have your own memory
and you don't forget much
you're wonderful

Body,
I'm sorry for what mind has done
I promise to take better care of us
you're superb

Body,
you're stronger than mind realizes
you're a fighter
you're super

Body,
you endure great things
you speak what you think or feel
you're ideal

Body,
I love us
We will come together fully
We are one!

Resurrection of the Body Week 2

We did even more stretching today and we did the move that was most important to us, for me that was the opening up of the chest. Someone has said that they did not realize that even breathing was a gift, and yet that is the move I chose, opening up of the chest, because I do realize that breathing is a gift, and a wonderful one at that, since there are times for me when that gift gets harder. There were so many good explanations as to what worked for each person.

A lesson that came up as we were sharing our self-care plans was the idea of "Our greatest fear is not that we are small, but that we are huge"- Marianne Williamson

As I've thought about this, I realize how true it's been in my own life and I've seen it in the lives of others. I'm afraid to be big, to be the best I can be and it often leads me to focus on my weaknesses instead of my strengths. Like other fears, I need to let this one go and know that it's okay to be the best I can be, God wants me to be the best I can be and that includes being healthy! When I am healthy, I am often looking for the next illness, but that's listening to that fear. Instead, I should enjoy being healthy and working towards becoming even more healthy, as I will with my self-care plan.

The whole idea of a self-care plan, complete with reward is a good idea, too. Something I think everyone should have, sort of like New Year's Resolutions (as Charlie and Lynn say), but to have an accountability partner (or a class full!) to help them stick to it and to let the plan be flexible. It could really come in handy.

Lessons from "Resurrection of the Body" class 1

So I'm in a new class, a wonderful, connecting, helpful class. We got some of what I consider meditation: centering, grounding, tai-chi type of things. There was aroma therapy throughout class as well as some getting to know each other time. There was so much taught in just that little bit of class.

The first lesson was being love finders vs being fault finders (from attitudinal healing principles) How about we do this for the body? We find parts of our bodies to love rather than parts of our bodies to find fault. It's hard, but it's a good thing to try to do and something that we can apply.

The second lesson (also from the principles) was to focus on the whole instead of focusing on the fragments. We can focus on overall recovery instead of focusing on the slips or setbacks in recovery. From my own experience, I have chosen to focus on the Recovery and still say I've been in Recovery for 3 months, and that's despite a known slip or two. I am choosing to focus on the whole instead of focusing on the fragments, which puts me in Recovery and puts down what ED is trying to tell me ("Focus on the slips, you're not in Recovery"). Instead it reaffirms that I am in Recovery and helps me tell ED to shove off!