Oftentimes when I present a workshop, teach a class, or work with individual clients in my private practice here at the Wisconsin Grief Education Center, I use images from my "other" passion as a photographer to assist in the mourning and healing processes. One way is to show select images and ask "what do you see?" People will look at the same image and often see very different things. Take the image here of a silent kayak at sunrise. Where one person sees the beauty of solitude with the hope that a new dawn can represent, others may see loneliness and coming darkness at sunset. Writing, images, and music all access parts of ourselves in sensory ways that simply talking does not. The metaphors can be sources of the wisdom being learned, or may articulate particular challenges to the path ahead.
One way is to show select images and ask "what do you see?" People will look at the same image and often see very different things. Take the image here of a silent kayak at sunrise. Where one person sees the beauty of solitude with the hope that a new dawn can represent, others may see loneliness and coming darkness at sunset. Writing, images, and music all access parts of ourselves in sensory ways that simply talking does not. The metaphors can be sources of the wisdom being learned, or may articulate particular challenges to the path ahead.