The Way to Live: Vulnerability

adoption, Archival Memoir Project, birth mother, memoir, play-based mentoring, play-based retreat, playful writing, storytelling, surrogacy, surrogate mother, vulnerability

Mary Alice Long

Archival Memoir Project, Depth Psychology, Play and Create, Play in the Everyday

04 Mar 2016

Vulnerability is our most accurate measurement of courage. ~Brene Brown

March 5th

my surrogate son’s 29th birthday. I’m en-couraged….

by recent research showing that mothers and their children carry each other’s cells throughout their lives. I haven’t seen my surrogate son since shortly after his birth. News of this research creates a feeling of connection that I can hold onto [alongside so many other birth mothers who haven’t been in touch with their children].

This same news also makes me feel more vulnerable somehow…

I’m pregnant and carrying this news but at the same time am no closer to knowing how he is, what his life has been like over the last 29 years.

Does he know our story and how he came to be?

Medium.Com

I’ll be posting parts of my memoir on medium.com

and continuing to perform and help others create their own Archival Memoir Project.

The Archival Memoir Project is a visionary project that encourages people of all ages to claim what is unique about their personal story – and then share their story with others in a variety of playful and creative ways.

My personal “archival memoir project” includes a written memoir, performances, collection of images, dreams, and letters inspired by the birth of my surrogate son in 1987. A series of dreams and meaningful connections led me to the realization that my memoir was not meant to be a solo performance. Instead, I realized I was being called to tend a play-based, archival memoir project that will help others share their own personal and collective stories to create meaning and purpose in the lives of many individuals and communities.

My project includes written memoir, images, and performance. Another project might include film, visual art, and music. Yet another might include drawings, puppets and poetry. Another, a scientific research project, dance and coloring books. There are so many ways a life can be told … come and explore and discover YOUR STORY. and its POSTPARTUM [or what you learned as a result of your experience, collecting of treasures, life experience].

Listen on ‘Creativity in Play’ as I share more about the Archival Memoir Project and Active Dreaming.

Archival Memoir Project Performance

So real, embodied, playful story telling. Archetypal made tangible. You make it clear that getting in touch with, and living from the heart is natural and simple…. though quite hidden, and perhaps scary for most modern people….. And a sometimes struggle, ….but something which can be taught/discovered and shared together, playfully and creatively.

Here is my bravo…. but the story is ongoing…..I now have a deeper understanding of how playfulness can be a medium of understanding…. for one thing it can help us deal with the “scaries” as it lets us interact with ourselves…. and there are many more.

~Betsy Wetzig, Allentown, PA

Interested in joining an ‘Archival Memoir Project’ Group and create your own AMP? or would you prefer a customized play retreat just-for-you?

[contact-form][contact-field label=’Name’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Email’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Comment’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][/contact-form]