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Health and Healing
The gay and lesbian community is challenged to find and improve ways of maintaining
our health and healing our hearts and our bodies. This column will offer insights and
advice by various writers with a range of viewpoints and expertise. To submit an article or
request a topic, contact Franklin Abbott in care of Southern Voice, P.O. Box 54719,
Atlanta, GA 30308.
As we move into the winter months I am
always struck by the theme of hibernation.
The holiday season is over - those who did
not enjoy it at least survived it - and the
time for reflecting and nurturing ourselves is
here. Hibernation is a healing idea: a time
of looking into one's self and allowing our
bodies and our psyches a chance to unwind.
Winter, where I grew up, is truly a time to
hibernate by retreating indoors to escape the
soul-piercing chill. Regardless of the
climate, however,
the winter months
can be a chance to
renew one's inner
life.
Winter is a
season of stark
reality and
concomitantly a
period of gentle,
humble waiting. It
is in these two
elements that we
can find a parallel
for our individual
journey into our
own psycholo
gical/spiritual
winter. What better way to begin the new
year than with a time of reflective silence
and self-tending; a season pregnant with
possibility?
Truly it is the moment, the time period
prior to new life and growth, that contributes
to and is responsible for the new life itself.
The preparation, the work, the descent into
one's inner world brings each and every one
of us into a renewed sense of understanding;
only when we allow ourselves to come into
contact with our thoughts, feelings, and
desires can we begin to live out of our own
inner sense of truth. The season of winter
symbolizes the need we all have to stand
still: to re-introduce ourselves to the process
of honest self-examination.
The New Year holiday has historically
brought with it a desire to "do better", to
enhance and improve one's life, to jettison
bad habits. How about if this year your new
year's resolutions focused less on
behaviorally-oriented "shoulds and should
nots" and centered more on how to get to
know yourself on a deeper level? In a
culture so fixated on behaviors and
materialistic values we need to realize that
we are more than a sum of our
accomplishments and possessions, while
simultaneously learning to forgive ourselves
for perceived failures and lackings.
This could be the year when the
resolutions you make flow out of your own
need to heal and integrate all the various
dimensions of who you are. For example, a
woman who has traditionally been taught
that to be angry means to be a "bitch" or a
"nag" can learn to claim her anger so that it
becomes an empowering, effective well
spring when used
appropriately. A
man who has
repressed and
neglected the piece
of his person which
needs tender,
consistent loving
might want to
mourn the burying
of that desire and
then work to
establish that
within his self and
his life. The
integration of
our various
personal needs and characteristics will
enable us to live healthier, more fulfilling
lives in which we befriend ourselves instead
of rejecting ourselves.
There are many ways to go about this
process. Beginning to record your dreams
in an attempt to leam more about your inner
process and themes, is a good way to start
Finding a therapist with whom you feel
comfortable and who will facilitate your
work is another suggestion. Spending time
alone - creative, thoughtful time - which
serves to get you familiar with your
thoughts and emotions is another restorative
process.
Albert Camus once wrote "In the midst
of winter I found within me an invincible
summer". Without the quiet, self-reflective,
hibernating quality of winter the rich, full
bodied, abundant summer would not be
possible. So it is for us and our lives.
- Karen Benjack-Burke, M. Div., M.S.W.
Karen Benjack-Burke is a psychotherapist
practicing in Atlanta. She can be reached
at 977-6154.
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Karen J. Benjack-Burke
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°° Jungian oriented psychotherapy
oo Incest survivors °° Women's issues
Free initial consultation
Sliding fee scale 977-6154
Texus and SAME Present
■Man With a Gun byjim Grimsley
January 1 2, 21, 27 at 8pm
January 15 at 5pm
■Body to Body by Rebecca Ranson
January 13, 19, 28 at 8pm
January 22 at 5pm
■Friday's Thanksgiving by Bill Bagwell
January 14, 20, 26 at 8pm
January 29 at 5pm
Tickets are $10 and may be reserved by calling 688-2500
Group discounts are available, call 584-2104
Performances are at Nexus Theater, 608 Ralph McGill Boulevard,
one mile east of the Atlanta Civic Center
The development and performance of these plays was funded in part by grants from the
Hearstrings Foundation and the Georgia Council for the Arts
INexus Gallery I
■ "the subject is AIDS"
Forty artists from around the country will be featured in this powerful
exhibition of works from artists who are dealing with AIDS as an
ongoing theme in their work. The exhibit utilizes visual art to
present the realities of this social and med
cal crisis.
Opening : January 6
8:00pm - 1 1:00pm
Regular Hours: Tuesday-Wednesday,
1 1:00am - 5:00pm
Thursday-Saturday,
1 1:00am - 8:30pm
Sunday
4:30pm - 5:30pm