Unlock the Hidden Power of Your Story: Transform Words into Mesmerizing Art with Anne Gudger’s CRAFT
I used my journals as place markers, timestamps — a record of my unbearable feelings. I’d read from my scribblings, close my eyes, connect with the feelings, and let myself experience where I held those feelings in my body. Then I’d write from that body part. I carried a lot of shame in my left scapula. It’s still my shame spot, but it doesn’t ping and light up as much as it used to. Thank you, therapy.
Body beats bring readers into our world. When I say my throat was straw-sized instead of tight, you can feel the body feel. When I write that my scapula was wrapped in thorns, that it buzzed with shame, you might feel a little twitch in yours or a body blip where you carry shame. In Christie Tate’s essay “Buried in My Wrong Body,” she writes about wearing pointe shoes for ballet rehearsals, and we can feel her toes: “The sting of it, the joy of it, the secret lingering on the tips of my feet. My toes like busted piano keys. Like a leper’s fate. Like memory, like wings.”
