looking for input....

Honor Yourself

so there have been a couple repetitive words in my life lately.
yesterday i wrote of one – ‘trauma.’
today i want to write about the other – ‘secrets.’

and i was hoping to get some input.

recently i’ve witnessed different people struggling with secrets they’re holding.

i hear a lotta secrets doin’ what i do.
and because of that, i can easily see that people aren’t alone with those secrets.
but they don’t always know that because they’re too afraid/ashamed/terrified
to tell what they know.

isolation grows.
healing slows.

i truly believe in the healing power of sharing of our stories.
but when the stories are filled with secrets, we get quiet and we get stuck.

filled with all these thoughts, i enthusiastically, but not very thoughtfully,
asked about secrets on the bone sigh arts facebook page.
ahem.
a few minutes after i posted, i realized the very public spot was
probably not the most considerate place to be asking people about secrets.

to the bone sigh arts community’s credit, i got some very thoughtful responses.
and i so appreciated what was shared.

it got me thinking even more about this dilemma.
and sparks of ideas have begun inside me.
but i could use some help in refining them -

i’d like to offer a page on our website for secrets.

i want to have a place we can put this stuff on the table and say ‘this happened
to me and i’ve been carrying it alone. i want to put it down here, share it and
let some of it’s weight lift. and i want others to understand they’re not alone.’

that would be the point of the place.
but there needs to be some thought into the process of making something like
this happen.

my sons pointed out to me that i don’t want the page to be all darkness.
great point.
a page full of dark stories can have its drawbacks unless
it includes hope in a really tangible way, i think.

so i’d like some input on that -
could people offer a secret they’ve been carrying AND a second half with it?
maybe a way they’re working on healing from it, or something of that sort?
any thoughts on that? some sort of light with the dark? i really think we’d
need the mix.

of course everything would be anonymous. there would be no names,
initials, anything of that sort.

perhaps instead of a page, i could make an art piece? i don’t know.

almost everything is open at this point.
i can’t offer a private forum or anything i would have to moderate.
i don’t have the time. so this would have to be something i can create and let stand
as it is and add as we go.

i was thinking of letting people know they could email me, or if they preferred,
they could snail mail me secrets. nothing graphic or i’d have to edit those parts out
just cause we’d worry about triggering others. and then i’d post them somehow.

i would want a trigger warning anyway so people knew what was happening before
they browsed whatever it was we were offering.

does this sound like a healing place to anyone else?
is this something anyone else would be interested in?
does anyone see a need for it?

any thoughts would be welcome. it’s quite possible it’s a bad idea and i’d be
okay with hearing that. one less thing to do, ya know?
there’s no gimmick involved, no profit to be made, i’m not trying to do anything
but offer a spot that our community may need. if it’s needed, i want to try.
if not, i’m good with moving on to other things.

so give me some input when you have a chance?
you can comment here, or email me privately.