Thursday, September 20, 2007



WHEN MOHAMMAD WON'T COME TO THE MOUNTAIN...

In addtion to all the wonderful things that I learned from Ruth King at the "Celebrating Rage" retreat, I also met a dear friend of hers, Lucia Capacchione. Lucia is a force in her own right, but for the retreat she was an assistant to Ruth. She so believes in the work that Ruth does, and it is in such alignnment with what she's out in the world doing, she "gave back" and volunteered her weekend to helping women resolve their rage.

At the end of one particularly dramatic exercises Ruth had us do, we journaled about it. Upon Lucia's suggestion, we wrote with our non-dominent hand. She explained that by doing so, we would be accessing our right brain, and allowing our psyche to speak up, where usually the left brain has it under reigns. I gave it a try.

Wow. It was like I was writing with invisible ink. Words I didn't think I was even thinking showed up on the page, totally catching me off guard. I intended one thing, and wrote another. There were two such instances, but the one that freaked me out the most was this one. I intended to write, "I need to be needed." But what my left hand wrote was, "I need to be noted." Undeniably true, but news to me.

I spoke more with Lucia about this afterwards, and learned she had a whole book about this, which of course has long-since been 1-Clicked. Can't wait for it to arrive.

The more I spoke with Lucia, the more "Oh my Gods" there were. She has done a lot of work on Anne Frank's life (I am slightly obsessed with Anne Frank). But the biggest OMG of all was when she ofthandedly mentioned she'd worked with Sister Mary Corita Kent, or "Corita" to those of us that worship her, may she rest in peace. I have Corita art ALL over my house, and more on the way. Everything about this woman turned nun, turned lay person fascinates me, and Lucia worked with her, side-by-side. There are no accidents, that's all I'm sayin'!

11 comments:

Deb Shucka said...

Okay, I'm goosebumpy here. I've been doing other hand writing in therapy for years. It's changed my life. So cool to know someone else who knows its magic. I'm adding the book to my next Amazon order. Looking forward to comparing notes in October - just two weeks away!!!!

Anonymous said...

I have her other book, and I've done journal writing with my left hand, AND it is amazing! Meeting my inner child was so powerful. So very cool that you met Lucia! I'm tryin' real hard not to be jealous! I'm really into brain research and do a lot of work with Jim Wilder at lifemodel.org. He's not your stereotypical Christian, you know the ones who make us (okay, I meant make ME) nauseous! He's a brilliant man well grounded in humility and grace. Can I just say that I can't wait to meet you!

Anonymous said...

My Graduatate Professor, who was amazing, who taught us about Alcohol Abuse, has us do an exercise where we wrote a letter, from our younger, inner child, telling us how she felt about how we turned out today. It was weird because 1. The writing looked so child like, 2. What came up, I had no idea where it came from 3. It was so emotional. Then he had us address an envelope to ourselves, seal it and collect them. Later in the semester, I received it in the mail, unexpected, looking like a child sent me a letter. Like receiving a letter from an old, long lost friend. Powerful stuff. I am so getting this book, I find it so interesting. I have not thought of this experience in a long time.
I agree with Deb, the writing experience and where it takes you it magic. Like you say, there are no accidents.
XOXOX

Jerri said...

Can't comment now. Have to go try to write with my left hand.

Kathi said...

Wow, this is so cool. I have seen that book before but never read it. I can't wait to try it. A wonderful connection you made with her. Don't you love when that happens?

covert-ops said...

That is so amazing! Off to find pen and paper to see what happens using my nonprominent hand.

Nancy said...

WOW! Can't wait to try this. I hope I like that other half of myself or at least what she has to say...

Michelle O'Neil said...

I always write with my left hand.
I'm a lefty!

Carrie, so glad you had a great experience. Looking forward to reading the fruits of it for a long time to come.

Jerri said...

okay, so this is very, very difficult. Writing with my left hand, I mean.

Looking forward to more.

Casdok said...

Another interesting sounding book!!

Nancy said...

So even though I haven't tried it, I told my creative, right-brained sixteen year old to pick up pen and paper and write with his left hand. He wrote his name. I told him to continue and as he struggled through a line, I began to tell him that you met a woman at a retreat you attended about Healing Rage. No sooner had I said that... he through the pen down and said I freaked him out. He had written... "I have a rage." He was not sure why exactly. Much to explore here.