My wife Mary Scott Singer and I both trained as SoulCollage® Facilitators with Mili and Johnny Dillard in North Carolina. We facilitate SoulCollage® workshops and classes at churches and health events in Florida. However, I am not a therapist or a coach - I own and run two businesses - so my perspective on SoulCollage® may be different from Facilitators' in those professions.
Certain life events affect us emotionally to our core. It may be difficult to process them and explain why they happen. The surface effect on us may be obvious, but this may originate from several layers down. Getting to that original cause is like peeling an onion. When we take away the surface layers, we can see the behaviors and attitudes that define who we are at our core, giving us access to our soul. The process of making and reading SoulCollage® cards is a very tangible way to peel the onion. They seem to make no sense at first, but when we write or talk about them, bam! It all makes sense.
 |
|
| Speaking My Mind by Ivor Singer
|
I made a card during my Facilitator Training. It made no sense to me to put my chosen images together on one card - a rugged man, a road through a beautiful landscape, a slumping squirrel, a hand holding a baton, and a howling wolf. However, I followed the process. I cut the man in half and strategically placed him in the foreground of the landscape, with the slumping squirrel at his chest. The baton and the hand's forefinger pointed to the man's throat.
Only when reflecting on this card did I realize that I am a man with a plan, a path, who faces tough challenges in business and life, but my voice needs to be heard and I need to express it. I am often very outgoing, but sometimes I don't really speak my mind, being fearful of upsetting others or just needing time to process what's being said. So I don't always face the issues I need to. When our small group discussed our cards, I found myself in tears explaining this; it was like I burst something inside of me that I didn't really understand. I greatly feared not being accepted, yet inside I saw and felt a clear path about who I was.
This helped me realize I need to speak my voice when I don't see or understand the path of others. Since that card, I speak more freely, usually by asking questions, with less fear about whether I'll be accepted or not. I use the model "learn to understand to be understood." It has helped me in discussions to get to the core of the issues we all face in business and in life.
I observed a similar sudden leap of understanding during a SoulCollage® session we held at our church's Mind-Body-Spirit symposium. In weekly meetings over a four-week period, we facilitated a group of 12-14 adults; about a third were men. One young woman Melanie, (not her real name) was confined to a wheel chair. Her mom attended as well and hovered over Melanie, so we had one rule: her mom had to let Melanie select, cut, and place images and ask questions for herself. We knew this would be difficult in some ways for the mom, so Mary Scott and I decided that I would sit next to Melanie and assist her, but it would be Melanie's collage and thoughts.
|
| |
|
TURTLE 2 by Melanie
| |
Melanie chose a turtle and a water scene. One massive turtle, with its fins stretched out, glides freely through the blue sea. The neck of the turtle on the other card is actually strained forward and its eyes are wide open. Melanie cut out the images, placed them on the cards, and then revealed the following:
I am like the turtle: I feel a freedom as if I were gliding through water in my wheel chair. It can't move so fast, but it can roll and paddle to get to one place from another. Just like the turtle, I think, maneuver, and stretch my head forward to see new sights. I love the freedom of the water around me.Even her mother was shocked that this came out of her. That evening, many in the room saw a new Melanie, a creative spirit. The SoulCollage® exercise gave her an independence to express herself where previously she had not. It was as if she came out of her shell. And people saw her not as a person in a wheel chair, but as a soul, with a body that simply needed a wheel chair to move through life.
|
|
|
TURTLE 1 by Melanie
|
I find the process fascinating and can envision as well a totally different application, in a business retreat. Participants would be asked, "How do you see the company as it is today?" and "Where do you see us five years from now?" and would collage and consult a card for each. Participants would then share their readings and discuss the resulting new perspectives on the current state of the company, its possible future, and what changes might be made. This would enable a totally different thought process. I think a lot of people in corporate settings have a sense that something's wrong, but they can't put it into words. Finding or creating an image and dialoguing with it could help - as greater self-understanding has helped me - and for co-workers to see each other more fully, as our group did Melanie, would also be good for companies.
The process of SoulCollage® gives us a unique and creative way to peel the onion so we can understand how and why our experiences impact us. This understanding is a healing power that has led to positive changes in my role as a SoulCollage® Facilitator and in my life.
Ivor Singer has been a SoulCollage® Facilitator in Florida since 2011. He owns and operates two companies related to manufacturing in the construction industry. He was "dragged" to a SoulCollage® Facilitator Training, yet was instantly hooked on the method of inner search that this process brings. He facilitates with his wife, Mary Scott Singer; they offer sessions primarily in faith-based settings. He has two grown children and one new grandson.
