Have You Ever Felt Inadequate? How Did You Deal with It?
And did that work for you?
Just off of module 1 of the SoulCollage®* facilitators training and feeling a bit inadequate.
How so?
Most of the classmates I’ve encountered in break-out sessions, and we had four today are professional therapists. Some art therapists. Some have their LCSWs. Or MFCs. A new-to-me term was bandied about — IFS. I think it stands for Internal Family Systems. Apparently, it’s a great therapeutic modality that lends itself well to SoulCollage®.
Everyone but me in my small group seemed familiar with if not trained in it. Many raved about it. There’s even an eighteen-page article about how they fit together. Eighteen pages. I look forward to reading it and being blown away — after I pull myself together.
I know better than to linger in this cesspool of inadequacy. So what can I do about it?
Great question. And one that might provoke responses from readers.
What I did was challenge myself to reframe my experience. Turn it on its head. Look at the gifts in the situation.
Here’s how that turned out:
I’m blessed to be surrounded by the experience and expertise in the Zoom room — art therapists, FMCs, IFS experts, and ‘Parts’ people. Ones who’ve used SoulCollage® to help people heal from trauma. Such wisdom.
So I already have ideas for what to do if someone gets triggered in a session or workshop with me. How blessed is that?
But, compared to them, what the heck do I offer?
Lots.
My vast experience in SoulCollage® groups and making cards. The workshops and private sessions I’ve led, as well as my drug and alcohol counseling experiences and all the inner child work I’ve done. My recovery work and the life experiences I bring to the table.
This is not my first facilitator’s training.
I’m taking this to update and refresh my skills. Plus, the curriculum has expanded quite a bit since 2010 when I first took it with founder Seena B. Frost.
Instead of a weekend-long workshop — sixteen hours max — it’s now an eight-week class, meeting for three and a half hours on Saturdays. If you count the orientation and doing our homework, it’s twice as long as before, and jam-packed with readings, resources, and a sharing space so we students can easily connect with each other and our facilitators. As well as share our cards and their wisdom.
In addition to my facilitator experience, I offer my many applications of SoulCollage® to the writing process. I’ve used it to envision, create, and enhance my poetry, fiction, stories short and long, as well as to express and heal my recent grief. I’ve even written a book about how I do all this. Two actually. One’s an intro to the other.
The introductory one is called Developing Characters: Fun Ways to Cast Your Fiction. The one coming any day now is Ninja Writers Guide to SoulCollge® for writers.
In Developing Characters, I share my experiences with and the benefits of blogging as your characters as well as how I use SoulCollage® to enhance all of my writing. This includes creating images of and speaking as my characters and their relationships and conflicts with each other.
The new book goes much further, exploring how to create SoulCollage® cards and use them to inspire poetry, blogging, freelance work, and other forms of non-fiction as well as fiction.
In addition, SoulCollage® has revealed surprising insights into who my ideal readers are. Reading a card told me there are folks who find my life experiences not just interesting but inspiring. My candid vulnerability gives them encouragement, acknowledgment, and hope. Had I not made and consulted a SoulCollage® card about my readers, I wouldn’t know this as clearly as I now do.
So getting back to the Facilitator’s Training….
It’s a powerful, wise group of mostly women, and I know I’m a vital contributor to that power and wisdom. I see now that we all have unique gifts we bring to the table. Even, or perhaps especially, me.
It’s like how each of us bringing our favorite dish to a potluck enriches the meal for everyone. What do you bring to the potluck of personal possibilities?
So that’s me. Now it’s your turn. Have you ever felt inadequate around your peers? Were you able to shift those feelings? And if so, how’d you do it?
I look forward to hearing and learning from you!
*What is SoulCollage®?
SoulCollage® is a process of allowing our souls to select and arrange images into collages, typically on 5 X 8-inch matt boards. It’s like creating our personal Tarot or oracle deck. In addition to being ‘read’ when created, we can do readings with one or more cards to answer specific questions.
Note: SoulCollage® cards are not to be copied, sold, traded, or bartered. SoulCollage® cards are for personal use only.