The Blob Tree

by Ian Long Pip Wilson

Share This Report this item Preview this image Copyright: © 2009 Pip Wilson and Ian Long Standard Copyright License Language: English Country: United Kingdom Edition: First

Download £5.00 Add to Basket (438 kb) File Dimension: 1357 x 1920 pixels (4.5" x 6.4" at 300 dpi) Download: 1 documents , 438 KB (Click for details) Description: Way back in the 1980s, Pip Wilson and Ian Long generated this image for use with young people who couldnt read or write. 30 years later it is used throughout the world as a tool for helping all ages to share how they are feeling. The tree can represent any group, family, workplace, organisation etc. Keywords no sexuality no gender no culture international tool no words All Ages youth work Ian Long Pip Wilson therapy counselling The Blob Tree Blob Tree

....... and the words said -
'feed me till I want no more' ............

This community group I belong to -
the one that meets on Sundays -
that was the stand-out line today.

The trouble is -
I want to be fed
and want to never
be satisfied
always wanting more.
I think heaven only
will we be wanting no more.
/
Today we won.
This minority group I belong to -
yes this is another minority group I belong to.
We won
hardly covered by TV
Newspapers
Facebook
Blogs.
/
Rugby League is a minority sport
and I feel it.
My team won today - next step is
quarter finals on the way to Wembley.
/
Tomorrow is Joan's birthday.
I never tell when it is mine.
No Blogs on me.

We are going out for a meal
and little Sheila,
between TV Directing jobs,
will join us.
She never misses out on the good times.
Joy is in London at the same time,
but tearing around setting things up
for the next fashion shoot so -
she will not be with us.

No present from husband for Joan.
In a few weeks she goes, with the Sheilas,
to Marrakech for a few days.
That is the best present.
The have a few days away together once a year.
/
We are not having holidays this year.
With the home move pending,
all of life is uncertainty, so -
we will await developments.
/
I am churning challenge.
How do I break through -
in relationships
in using activities.
Using processes which interest.
Draw in their attention.
I need to also get them to contribute
engage, reflect, talk, and that is a big call.

I am talking about
a group of young humans
all with lots to say
all with behavioural issues.
all with no interest, commitment or reason to
co-operate with me.

I am charged with working with them.
I want to give them options to enable them.
Enable them to step outside their existing.
New lives for old.

You cannot force freedom.
Liberation is not liberation
unless it is chosen.

Mulatu Astatke / The Heliocentrics is my latest album.
Ethiopian Jazz.


I am not big into Jazz.
I like it fused with
Hip Hop Soul R&B rock
but I am not a purist.
I find the new album
challenging
uncomfortable
out of the zones.
So - I like it.

Have been hunting a new home today.
Part of my life has been in distraction.
Rightly so -
a home is important.
A base is
A foundation is
Just like them little birds in our bird box.
They dive in and out
must be baby feeding time.
Never had them for years.
A new
Bird Cafe we bought
needed weathering in methinks.

"How doth the little busy bee improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day from every opening flower."
(Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, English independent minister and hymn writer).

You know - there is a parable in all things we see and feel.
Believe and stumble into or over.
Learning, discovery, wonder and development.
So - my little bird box is speaking to me at the moment.

"healing is waking up to your own life.
no matter what your life look likes,
it's yours and it's all you've got!
healing is making a decision to care for it."
kathryn robyn

I am thinking about Zig.
I feel for him a lot.
Conversations are only one way.
He only has body language.
A little rub against my leg.
A big purr when I hold him in my arms.
An occasional sit on my knee -
does he know when I need it?

The move will be big for him.
He has never lived anywhere else.
The garden, and others around us, is his domain.
How will he cope in any new environment?
How will he cope without a garden?
How will he cope stepping out into complete unknown?
How can I warn him?
He is on my mind.

When I first became a follower
a disciple
a human of the way -
I believed that God loved me.
I believed that he listened.
He trusted he would work it out with me.
My stupid mind/education/knowledge/awareness
were all placed into a large hand.
I believed that, in my
fumbling stumbling life,
that I could trust.
Blind faith I guess.

I intend to continue.
Having learned much
I still stumble
still fumble
still mumble
still trust in a power beyond
beyond
beyond
all my understanding.
Vision over visibility.

THE SECRET IS YOURSELF
THE SECRET IS YOUR PAIN
THE SECRET IS LETTING GO
GIVING UP
BREAKING DOWN
GIVING IN
...TO THE END
...TO THE BEGINNING

Feelings
when I don't know what to blog
I think -
what am I feeling.

I am feeling a bit strange.
I decided some years ago
that I am odd -
so being strange is not new.

I am different than my peers
Unique of course - but we all are.
But also I feel I/we have made life decisions
out of the social/western norm.
So I am odd!

Also it is a strange time in terms of shift.
We are on the way to a new home.
Not knowing where that is - yet
vision over visibility.

Also my core community/employment as ended.
I am out there on my own and I am a community human.
I am quieter than I have ever been work wise.
Beautiful big and challenging gigs
I love it love it
but gaps in-between!
Strange.

Maybe I need to do less and do better?
Maybe I need to accept I am not getting younger -
like you, we travel that road at the same speed.
Maybe I need to spend more time writing,
but I find that boring.

"It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them."
(Generally attributed to Alfred Adler, 1870-1937, Austrian-born psychiatrist, colleague of Freud and Jung, founder of 'individual psychology' and first to define the inferiority complex.)

"Growth does not reside in a place called comfortable"
Maybe I need to accept this change
surf it
accept the uncomfortable
have faith in the process of change.
And look eagerly for the changes.

I will do a late night SWOT analysis on myself.
That will give me focus.
I will use every breath as words with the divine.
And I will revisit my vision/mission.
It always inspires me.

"It is by loving,
and not by being loved,
that one can come nearest the soul of another."
(George MacDonald, 1824-1905)

There is no such thing as a difficult human - only difficult behaviour.
Yes - even including our parents.

So many grown up humans have difficulty being 'adult' with their own parents.
Particularly when older people begin to turn nasty or sometimes offensive.
So many times these relationships are seen as offensive rather than inadequacy.
So a grown up - 30 - 40 - or 50 year old will back off an inadequate parent
because they are offended by behaviour.
In fact, so often, there is a reactive behavioural response -
rather than a a personal mission-led response.
( If you have not seen - check my own mission statement under 'pearls' on home page)

If another humans behaviour dictates how we respond we are;
- a feather in the wind -
- a leaf in a stream -
- not response-able.
We need to decide how to respond
not just be reactive,
follow the stream.
Even with our parents.

The alternative to to reactive behaviour is a
decision about how we believe it is 'right' to behave,
and then striving to do it.
Even with parents.

If we believe it is right to walk away from anyone who is offensive
rather than calmly dealing with it
we enter cycle of poor communication
resulting in inadequate relationships.
Even with our parents.

It takes an emotional intelligence approach.
All this is awareness and skill.
We can learn ho to do it better.
We never do if we
walk - not stay
and enter in.
Or avoid real communication
Even with our parents.

Many families will never ever talk things through.
Often it is talking FACT and OPINIONS
never FEELINGS.
We can be the one
who decides to do
LEVEL FIVE communication -
even with our parents.

If we believe in unconditional love -
loving the human person but also
working at the weaknesses in 'behaviour'
(ours and theirs!),
we will be deciding how to communicate because it is 'best'
- not just because;
"I feel uncomfortable/angry/sick/fed up/mad/putdown/disregarded/treated like muck ......... fill in your own words here .............. "

One of my principles is'
We are responsible 'to' -
not responsible 'for'
another person.

If we are the latter - what about the beautiful human who is
nearing 'self harm' or 'suicide' or 'unstable'
and we cannot cope with that?
It will destroy us.
Alternatively we will become so possessive and not be an aid to that humans growth - only further oppression.
Being responsible 'to' - is giving what you have but at the same time believing that each human is responsible for themselves AND we cannot be responsible for them.

I remember once,
a person coming to our front door
terribly depressed.
We were living under real pressure.
There was more distress inside the home
than at the front door.
I turned that person away.

I remember it and have feelings about it.
I believe that I was not responsible for that person.
But I still feel the feelings about it.
About the person.
About my rejection.
But I was right to do it.

Experiences like this dwell and leave a mark.
Rightly so .....................

'Only love, only love can leave such a mark
But only love, only love can heal such a scar'
U2

When did you become an adult?
I became an adult when I was about 40 years old!
It was as a result of the sorts of things above.

So I am responsible
TO you
not
FOR you.

I wee slice of my, nearly, 170 gigs of music .......................

Love working with professional who are skilled and experienced beyond compare - in a profession different than mine.

I learn
It stretches
It challenges me.

As such today.
Love what they do
which I could never.
Academia.
Mental health.
Top researchers.
Top lecturers.

Love being in interaction.
far better than writing.
Bores me.
I come alive with humans.

When do you come alive?

Tell me the last occasion
when you went to bed
feeling really fulfilled from your day
- what had happened that day?

Say it
tell it
because that is where your soul is.

"No cord nor cable can so forcibly draw,
or hold so fast,
as love can do with a twined thread."
(Robert Burton, 1577-1640,
English writer and clergyman,
from The Anatomy of Melancholy, written 1621-51.)