Witnessing "Stuckness" in Empathy
Listening for the message this particular exile has to teach.
Resonant World has more than 940 subscribers in countries from the United States and Australia, to the UK, Germany and Colombia. Of these, 24 are paying supporters — to whom I’m very grateful. This newsletter serves the global movement working to heal individual, inter-generational and collective trauma — and reader support helps reach more people. Thank you!
Resonant World #64
I was delighted to hear about the level of resonance that some readers felt in response to my last post “What Is Healing?” (Resonant World#63.)
In the light of some of the comments I received, I felt an impulse to record a short transmission on the theme of the “stuckness” so many of us at times experience.
It’s a beautiful morning in south-west London, so I recorded this at my local park.
I usually write a lot of words, but I’ll rest it here for now with some pictures from my walk, and the video above.
A labour of love, Resonant World is written in the gaps between work I get paid to do, notably editing investigations at nonprofit climate news service DeSmog. It’s a huge boost when people become paid subscribers, and support of any amount affirms that my mission to support the global community of practitioners engaged in supporting people to integrate individual, inter-generational and collective trauma has value. Thank you!
Work With Me: Soul-Witnessing via the Tarot
If you enjoy Resonant World, then you may find a Tarot reading with me supportive. I work with the cards to connect you to the part of yourself that knows the answers you seek, and can communicate with amazing precision via the 1,200 symbols in the Thoth Deck. It’s amazing to see what the beautiful, multi-layered imagery can unearth from just below the surface — and feel the clarity and energy that a reading can unlock.
I charge £70 / $90 for an online session that typically lasts 90 minutes, including a guided meditation to establish a coherent field linking us with the cards. (I am a member of the Tarot Association of the British Isles and abide by its code of ethics). Reading the Tarot is one of my absolute favourite things to do, and I love how people light up with the insights and realisations that a session can evoke.
Thank you for your gentle and calming guidance through an otherwise seemingly pesky, bothersome topic. "Stuckness" and stagnation feel to me like boredom, but somehow a frozen version of it, as if within there's something trapped, longing to be freed, that wants to move but believes it can't. And as you demonstrated, stuckness (and whatever it is masking) longs just to be seen and witnessed. I appreciate how you provide a clear, human reminder and nudge to your readers to step outside of their routine for the day, breathe, and move through this micro process - like an energetic wellness check. And the birds in your background seemed to enjoy the journey as well.
Hi Matthew, thanks for taking a walk with my stuckness. It was beautiful how you welcomed it in and sat with it. Sure, it is usually turns up to protect one. Sometimes though it would help it was less protective and could surrender it*s deepest fear of non-perfection (in my case) and let go.