EWR 04 : The silencing of our wants & needs
Embodied Writing : Relating, Relationships & Trauma series
This week we will begin to explore the ways we silence ourselves, the hows, and the whys.
Many of us were raised with the idea that asking for what we want is bad in some way. That voicing our needs is unacceptable. We may have learned this very early in our lives, perhaps even in our pre-verbal years. The ways our caretakers responded, or didn't respond, to our cries as infants and toddlers set in motion the ways our neural pathways developed, which in turn began to determine how, when, where, and why we would express our discomfort or our wanting for something.
How often were you told as a child to stop complaining when you were sad or frustrated, noticing an injustice, or simply wanted something?
How did your primary caretakers express their own wants and needs? How did they respond to each other when one would express a want or need?
It is not only how we were treated directly that impacts the ways we relate with others today, it is also the ways we witnessed the adults in our lives relating with each other.
Communication is a vital part of any relationship.
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