Opposing Emotions
How often do we experience all kinds of opposing emotions in one day?
One moment we are happy, then we are surprised, angry or irritated, surprised, happy etc. With women, it is a bit more than with men… If you were to write down all the feelings in one day, that would at least be an interesting experience for me and a very long list…
We start each therapy group by standing still and experiencing what is happening inside: how do I feel now? Which feeling is the greatest?
And we express this feeling in different ways. Today, the feeling is depicted on paper with chalk. And here the result is not essential. The feeling determines the color, the movement – round or angular, how hard the crayon is pressed, how large the movement is made…
And then the opposite feeling is made in the same way.
Have you ever considered what the opposite feeling to you is to what you are experiencing right now? You can choose something entirely different from someone else… Feelings are also valued differently by other people… Very interesting to think about!
The assignment is not yet finished because…
…just as in daily life opposing feelings are very close to each other and occur together, the task now is to incorporate these two elaborated sheets in one way or another into a new piece of work.
Cutting, tearing, gluing, stapling, folding, everything is allowed, and you can use all the materials you need.
And off they go! They start to get used to the assignments, and today they feel free to add anything. Magazines, needle and thread, even 3-D work!
There are also conflicts here and there. I truly want to work with that good feeling.
Or vice versa: I only want to use the black sheet…
When asked why, it is said that it is more clear then. When feelings get mixed up, I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore… It’s easier to choose 1 feeling…
And there we have another parallel with everyday life… Where opposing feelings coexist. And so, the piece of work that arises is an image of what you can experience one day. Very concrete and consciously brought together into one whole. Opposites are often not separate from each other…
