Expressions

Shakespeare is dead. He can't change his oeuvre . Process work (pw) is alive and thriving. It can change. In fact, it does. So what triggered my thoughts in this comparison of Hamlet and pw?

All Shakespeare's plays are in 5 acts. No exceptions. Similar to our 5 days' pw labs. The journey is pretty similar - Introduction; Rising Action; the Zenith of Action; Falling Action and the Closure. Each act is akin to the progression of a day in pw. But, in pw we have abbreviated this cycle to 4 or even 4½ days. Shakespeare is stuck with the 5-Act format.

I compare pw to Hamlet as it is one of Willy's better known tragedies and the entire drama (as in a lot of his tragedies) is around pure emotions. In the case of Hamlet, it is indecision, doubt, authority issues, lack of confrontation, high IQ but action paralysis, poor self worth where he believes even Ophelia cannot truly love him, ghosts which haunt him literally and psychologically, high expectations of another's behaviour from his perspective and several others. Too many subtleties to be enumerated here...

Impressions deep
Stir my soul
Pain, sorrow, grief
Pierce the fabric
Of my being

I wear a mask
So colourful
That  you cannot
Detect the acne
on my soul’s canvas

Layers of inauthenticity
Shroud my true self
What I am 
Lies captive within
Struggling to breathe.

The other day there was a discussion on how to explain Process Work to people who may not have known about it. One way I thought was to simply say that it is work that aims at individual and social development. It is not therapy, because first, we are not dealing with any disorder or illness and secondly, the facilitator -not being a therapist- does not provide a line of treatment to the participant, who again is not a client. It is not counselling, because process work is not addressing an issue, though that may happen in the course of process work. Also, the facilitator is not a counsellor who stands outside the participant’s situation and provides insights. Rather the facilitator is a co-traveller with the participant, walking with her in the journey of life that has its own joys, trials and everything else that comes with it. Here we need to bring centrestage the point that Process work happens in groups. It does not happen in one-to-one settings, as in most forms of therapy and counselling. That has its great significance...

Do you remember the feel of paper that has imprints on it, of words pressed and written on earlier pages with a ballpoint pen? When you touch it you know the ridges of curved letters will stay, you have to either write over them or not at all. The paper stiff with all that overwriting will resist with a heavy crinkle every time you try to turn it.

It is a lot like trying to move on. The imprints are all there and so is the resistance. You notice some words instantly. There is fear and hurt, guilt, loss and pain. Others too, the ones you can't identify only feel. Fragments of scratched out endings. Bits of love songs. You trace your fingers on the outlines for hours, for days. Only the lingering seems to numb the pain. Then...

Aastha was beautiful and she was fearless. I was self-righteous, scared, confused and attracted to her. But, Jaya thought it was still a good idea. I think she sensed that I would connect with Aastha. So I met Aastha.

Now Aastha instantly understood me. She heard what I had to say and I felt held. She wanted me to be honest with myself. She said, “the more you share of yourself, the more you will receive”. She wanted me to feel, not just think. And Aastha reminded me to act, more than a few times. But really, she just wanted me to invest in myself.

I had met some others before I met her, but none was like her. She contained a sense of community in her. A kind of love that I hadn’t felt before. So I stayed...