The following is written by Thomas Zelenz, a participant who
flew from California, to attend a 7 day Symbolic Modelling intensive
training in London in 1999 run by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley. While he gained the professional skills
of using Clean Language and the Metaphor Therapy of David Grove, he
has chosen to describe some of the personal changes he has
experienced since returning home.
NOW LIFE MAKES PERFECT SENSE
The results of the course keep working out in the most wonderful
ways in my life. Things that were challenges in the past are now
'resolving' of their own accord. Also, the word 'resolution' keeps
coming up for me in the sense of a higher resolution on a video
screen in that I'm seeing things clearer. For example, I realized
that "trusting other men" was more a surface issue and that I had
something about 'male is bad' down deep. And the irony of being in a
male body!
I'm fully awake
I used to have a terribly difficult time waking up in the morning
and getting out of bed and when I did, my body would start to become
uncomfortable in one way or another. Now, I pop back into my body as
if there's nothing to it. I'm fully awake and my body doesn't do
weird things anymore. So, now that 'maleness' is not the source of
all evil, I get along much better with my body it seems and it seems
to be liking me better as well. This in itself is a miracle!
It's inconceivable
Many other equally miraculous changes are manifesting as well. It
seems to be taking a little time for all the rest of the bits that
make up me to reorganize in response to the shift in my metaphoric
landscape. And still they're happening across the board. I first
described this work to myself as "unbelievable", however, I now most
certainly do believe it, because I'm living the experience. What I'm
really saying is it's inconceivable what this work can do, has
already done, and continues to do!
I have arrived
I have no idea where all of this change is going and, unlike the
way it used to be, it doesn't matter anymore! I still ask myself "how
that could be?" because in the past it was so crucial to "know" what
was going on and to "plan", even if it meant fooling and deluding
myself about how much I really knew. I used to think I could tell
what other people were thinking or that I "knew" what was going to
happen in the future while, of course, not admitting to myself or
able to realize how much I really didn't know. Now, it just doesn't
matter anymore. And the fact that I have arrived at this place
without having to undergo some tortuous, racking physical pain is
amazing!!!
I still am not over it, and yet, know that I will be, and yet,
don't know how or when, and yet, that's all right. Actually, I ask
myself, when has life ever really made sense? However, as I look back
at my past, that certainly didn't stop me from trying very hard, all
the way up until I took your course. Now life makes perfect sense all
of the time, I just don't "know how"!
Thomas Zelenz
April 1999
