Father, Mother, God group collage
This is a collaborative project that explored the concept of right parenting on both the personal and archetypal levels. Each participant collaged their piece of the circle with images that described “good fathering” and “good mothering”, whether we actually received it or not. When we put the pieces back together, I proposed that we had created a picture of God- the perfect combination of right fathering and right mothering.
I believe our responsibility TO OURSELVES in 3rd stage recovery is to tap in to a higher power, source, God or holy spirit to work with us in re-parenting ourselves. This is the challenge that recovery and therapy present to us – recognizing that our biological parents didn’t give us all we needed, that there is grief associated with this recognition but that, in fact, they were not able to or even SUPPOSED TO. The sooner we recognize this, and accept that boyfriends and spouses and children CANNOT DO IT EITHER, the free-er we become to rely on God for these needs. You may have noticed that our desire for this unconditional love and right parenting is a bottomless hole, infinite and relentless. But so is God’s love and understanding – INFINITE. We are not wrong to want it and need it for that is what makes us search for God.
We discussed the importance of a daily spiritual practice in acknowledgment of this. And a gentle reminder that a daily request for help and a nightly expression of thanks will help us move to a place of love, fullness and service. I forget this all the time!
Copyright Jas Milam 2012