What Has Been Strengthened in Me

Created by Kathleen Rude

To be used after the Truth Mandala or other Honoring Our Pain rituals.

I developed this practice as a way to help people transition from the often raw vulnerability of honoring their pain into a sense of expanded strength and capacity. This practice helps to reinforce the transformation taking place when we allow our grief, rage, fear and overwhelm to move through us: our expanded capacity to embrace the partner emotions of love, passion for justice, courage and emergent possibilities.

I created this image for use in my online workshops. For in person workshops, I would write the words on a whiteboard or newsprint for people to reflect on during the practice.

At the close of the Truth Mandala, the facilitator shares with participants the transformation taking place when we allow our grief, rage, fear and overwhelm to move through us: we are gifted with an expanded capacity to embrace the partner emotions of love, passion for justice, courage and emergent possibilities. I want to reinforce this awareness and give people time to take it in and embody it.

After I close the Truth Mandala, I talk briefly about how honoring our pain can help us strengthen our capacity to love, to embrace our courage, to ignite our passion for justice and to inspire our imagination for new possibilities. I invite them into a time of silent reflection, where they ask themselves “What has been strengthened in me?” I schedule 4-10 minutes (depending on length of workshop and venue…usually shorter time online) for this reflection time. Online, I will screen share the image of partner emotions. In person, I will have prepared a whiteboard or newsprint with the wording on it so people can refer to Partner Emotions information during their reflection time.

I play soft music (I love Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings). People are in silence. I encourage people to write, draw, dance, move or sit during the allotted time.

When reflection time is complete, I invite people into a circle (in person) or back to Zoom screen. We take turns sharing with the group “what has been strengthened in me”. After each share, the whole group offers a sign of support: online participants wiggle their hands and facilitator says “We are with you.” In person, everyone can say “I am with you” or applaud. Or suggest another way to offer group support.