A chamber for secrets
A space for you and a new community art project
People don’t always see the emotions hurtling through you, from the extreme highs, to desperate lows, to the calm, more settled inner landscape — like the ebb and flow of a gentle tide.
They don’t see the exhaustion in your bones, the health problem you may be battling, or the grief you may be experiencing.
They don’t see your heart full of love, pumping blood around your body.
They don’t see the tight tangle of muscles, organs and veins, all tucked neatly away behind your skin — a boundary between you and world.
They don’t see the achievement you’d like to celebrate, the sadness you might be holding, or what you get up to behind closed doors.
They don’t see your story — the story that made you you. The steps that brought you here today, one after another after another. They don’t see how high you had to climb, or the mud you had to wade through, to be standing in front of them today.
Mostly, that’s OK — not every moment or emotion needs an outside witness, as long as we acknowledge them for ourselves, no matter how fleeting they may be.
Overall though, we are community beings. We need to know that we can be wholly ourselves and find acceptance, affirmation and love.
“I felt invisible,” a client told me recently. Her words stayed with me — I don’t want anyone to feel that way. I know how painful it can be — to feel that fundamental parts of who we are get ignored or neglected. Invisible.
Think of a time that you felt invisible, or when efforts you made went unnoticed.
What would you tell someone today who is experiencing that emotion? Can you go back in time to tell the version of you that felt that way?
If you’re not sure where the need is coming from, these steps can help to identify it: