If...

"Start changing yourself if you want to change the life around you." - M. Gandhi

We are living in troubled times from natural to man made catastrophes. It is difficult to know how to be or what to do. My feelings jump from rage to fear to despair.

There is a basic principle that governs Family Constellation work that helps me to connect to an inner anchor from where I can meet the world more whole.

Acknowledging What Is… is my favorite book by Bert Hellinger, the founder of Family Constellation work. This simple statement can feel irritating at this time. However this does not mean we should not have feelings and just acknowledge what is. If we can understand Acknowledge What Is as a process rather than a goal ( "I should be this way" ) we can use these times as an opportunity to come closer to ourselves and thus feel more connected to the world. As we move from reaction to response we are more effective rather than joining the cycle of endless rage and despair that separates us from the other.

In Family Constellation work we can experience this process of acknowledging what is.

The relational group field becomes a space where you and your issue are heard and held. Representatives are set up in the space for you to experience the outer representation of your inner system. This creates a physical and energetic space for time to slow down and for the personal and larger field to regulate itself. What is experienced internally can be seen externally. What moves externally in the field has an internal resonance. With time, the space -or field- is given the invitation to make a move towards a healing movement, acknowledging what is, both within and without.

Not only does trauma reside within us and in our family field, but as we now experience, it is in the collective field that we are part of as well.

As has been taught: when you want to know your state of consciousness, look at your surroundings.