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Pain and Possibility

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"When I kept silent, my body wasted away through mygroaaning all day long." Psalm 32:3

In a few simple words, thePsalmist recounts the experience of his soul's captivity; not behind bars made of steel, but of silence. Silence of his own "making." That the human being enjoys the ability to express itself implies that it should in fact express itself. And as in the case of King David, the act of locking away our grief can do more than simply confine its expression, for to confine is often to consume.

In Pain and Possibility, Dr. Gabriele Rico offers a way out for our words; a way to lead them up out of dark emotional chambers and set them breathing in the sun. Using the clustering process first introduced in her outstanding best-seller Writing the Natural Way, Dr. Rico leads the reader not away from, but directly into the storm. Into chaos. Into the downward spiral. Into the free association of ideas and images that form the clustering model. It is this model that helps us give shape to our feelings through the use of language.

The reader's guide on this journey is no novice. While encouraging the reader to enter the emotional turbulence of pain, Dr. Rico does not simply stand outside it shouting advice, but herself confronts a childhood trauma created by the sudden loss of her mother. Through a series of deliberate creative exercises - in which pain is named, "framed," and released - she takes her readers down the spiral of pain in order to lead them up again.

For expressive beings, words are the key. Once identified, named and explored, our pain can be owned. Once owned, it is ours to let go; this book tells us how. No special equipment or skill is required. Only a willingness to use what is already ours: an ability to express ourselves, and a desire to be free.