{"id":4874,"date":"2015-09-18T11:01:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T15:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/?p=4874"},"modified":"2016-09-17T12:20:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-17T16:20:13","slug":"kindred-spirits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/?p=4874","title":{"rendered":"Kindred Spirits"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the end of August I went to a gathering at Rowe Camp and Conference Center<\/a> of Kindred Spirits<\/a>.\u00a0 I decided to go because it was the last of the three weeks my therapist had been away, and I was having a hard time, especially being alone.\u00a0 It appealed to me because of it\u2019s emphasis on recovery and authentic expression of feelings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith its roots in the 12-step recovery movement, Kindred Spirits encourages authentic expression of feelings and a commitment to balance tears with laughter as we awaken our hearts and move into our wholeness.\u201d\u00a0 I signed up, thinking that at least I wouldn\u2019t be alone and meals would be provided. \u00a0The fact that those two things were so important to me is because my trauma was caused by being left alone too long and too often, and because my cries for food were rarely answered.<\/p>\n

I visited my brother Jack, a recovering alcoholic (I think he has four years sobriety by now, maybe even more!) at his home in Camden, Maine.\u00a0 He took me to some AA meetings and I was struck by their liveliness, and the way people were willing to tell the truth about their lives.\u00a0 I had been going to an Al-Anon group in Littleton, but it had been unsatisfying.\u00a0 Too few people, and the same ones dominated the conversation telling the same stories.\u00a0 I told Jack, and he said \u201canyone who comes to AA has admitted they were powerless.\u00a0 After that there\u2019s no point in not telling the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

So I went to the camp.\u00a0 It was totally completely wonderful.\u00a0 I was neither depressed nor terrified at all during it.\u00a0 I knew that if I got depressed I could go to someone and talk about it.\u00a0 I think because I felt so safe, I wasn\u2019t vulnerable to negative feelings.<\/p>\n

I thought it was well designed for a newcomer because we had \u201cfamily group\u201d every morning for two hours.\u00a0 This provided a group of people that I got to know intimately.\u00a0 We got to share, first as pairs where one person would talk for five minutes, while the other listened, and then switch\u00a0roles.\u00a0 Then there was an opportunity for each person in the group to share what was up for them that day.\u00a0 So I was immediately provided with a number of people I felt at home with.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon there were \u201clife-shops\u201d available, some at 2:00, some at 4:00, and some that took the whole afternoon.\u00a0 I went to one on Grief and Loss, one on Soul: asking your soul a question, One on Conscious Living and Wise Aging, and one on Black Lives Matter.\u00a0 They were all healing and nourishing and inspiring.<\/p>\n

In the evening there was dancing, which I didn\u2019t spend much time at because I need to get to sleep at a reasonable hour, the \u201cCandle Connection\u201d a ceremony held in the Chapel which I found very moving, the \u201cTalent Optional Show\u201d which I planned to leave early but couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 It was too funny and moving.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m so glad I went and am very likely to go again next year.<\/p>\n

From my journal\u00a0 \u201cThings to be grateful for today: the chance in Grief group to talk about the loss of what I never had.\u00a0 Good food.\u00a0 Having people around so I haven\u2019t felt lonely or depressed or terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overheard:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s hard to be grateful for a growth experience.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the end of August I went to a gathering at Rowe Camp and Conference Center of Kindred Spirits.\u00a0 I decided to go because it was the last of the three weeks my therapist had been away, and I was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healing","category-spirit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4874\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}