My first blog - my report to the ANZPA AGM, Dunedin, January 2009

Welcome to my inaugral blog 

I have taken the opportunity to start off with a report I made to the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association's AGM at Dunedin, New Zealand. I hope you like it. I have added links to the music lyrics I quote. I would be glad of any response. Over the coming weeks I will be addressing myself to a number of areas which I hope you will find of interest. Please click on the line above for the blog to drop down.

Dear Friends and colleagues: and members of our Association,

As President of this Association I keep my eye on the larger stage. I have  come to a few conclusions about the work of this association and what the work stands for: How the work is reflected in reports; how the work informs the Executive and the Board; how the work inspires practitioners trainees and clients alike. And the work inspires me. 

Recent inspirtaions

Two recent pieces of writing I have become familiar with. One is a poem attributed to leaders of the Hopi tribe of North America. In this writing they exhort us to know that:

"The time of the lone wolf is over.  Gather yourselves!

Banish the word "struggle" from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

We are the ones we have been waiting for."

I repeat for effect - "We are the ones we have been waiting for"

Also from Gary Hamel, a leading business consultant in the US where he writes:
"For the first time in history our heritage is no longer our destiny. Our dreams are no longer fantasies, but possibilities. There isn't a human being who has ever lived who wouldn't want to be alive right now, at this moment so pregnant with promise. Among all your forebears, among the countless generations who had no hope of progress, among all those whose spirits were betrayed by progress, we are the ones who now stand on the threshold of a new age - the age of revolution. We are blessed beyond belief. Don't falter. Don't hesitate. We are given this opportunity for a reason. Find it. Lead the revolution."

Sacred Human Purpose - learning to dream

This writing reminds me and informs me that our Association, our associating and our meetings have a sacred human purpose.

We know that Moreno (JL Moreno developed group psychotherapy in the 1930's) didn't just have a dream of how the world should be this or that, a single conserve. It was not a single way that all must follow. Rather he had a meta-dream, he had a dream of how to dream, how others could dream and how to ignite the dreams of others.

In a song by Coldplay they use the line "Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones" In this dream of how to dream, this Morenian methods, this psychodrama, this stuff, we have ways to assist living, breathing, human beings to find their lights and to ignite their bones and to ignite the bones of others. This of course includes ourselves.

My bones are clearly alight.

Moreno has passed that dream onto us - we don't have one dream that we want the rest of the world to follow - we have a dream of how others can create, and their dreams can come alive - all over the place - the normal people, the regular people - chatting and meeting and being together without fear and anxiety.

And this dream of how to dream - stumps many of us when someone asks us "What's psychodrama".

I believe what psychodrama is, is a dream of how to dream and a promise of being able to dream and bring forth the torrents of creativity that reside within human breasts and can blossom between people and between groups.

Presenting ourselves to the world - conserve and spontaneity

With this in mind it is my belief that as an association we continue to consider in a large and coherent manner how we can promote Moreno's dream of dreaming again to the world.

I have concluded that our association has a great many well functioning, well crafted conserves. These conserves are things that make it easier and easier for us as individuals, and collectively to co-relate, to co-create and to be ourselves. These conserves will continue to develop and some will change and some will remain and some will become utterly transformed.

Moreno firmly established the idea of the conserve side by side and paired with spontaneity. Moreno's canon of creativity  - sees spontaneity and the process of conserving as connected. Creator and creation are intimate. As in many cultural stories, myths and beliefs.

This taking a firmer line with the promoting of psychodrama is something Executives and many members have viewed as a struggle, a challenge for some time. This Executive has given up struggling. We are developing a progressive warm up to this transition, to taking up our place on the world stage. Last year we put a discussion paper in our documents - I know some read it because I received responses. All were positive of our move and all had different and relevant ideas about proceeding. From changing names through to "Learning to be cunning and ruthless". Thank you those that responded.

We need to develop a workable conserve and ways of marketing, rather than being captured by the negative stereotypes, such as chiselers and sales reps, that we relate to marketing with. Let us continue to create our conserve around marketing psychodrama.
Between born again proselytising and selling used cars there are many creative options, rather than only a limited number of spontaneity denuded ones. These roles may take a while to be born in relation to what I am encouraging. We will discover them over the coming years and wonder why we baulked this work.

One form of spontaneity as defined by Moreno, is the capacity to enact a role from one context in another context. This is what I believe we need to be able to do more of. I simply see that chatting with people and asking to see how we can assist them rather than telling how we should assist them; be they organisations, people, groups, communities will bring this method more to others attention.

Of course others are able to ignite bones and free dreams. That they can does not diminish us. However one thing I know - is that we are! We are able to ignite bones, free people to dream again.

This is our taonga (Maori term for treasure), this is our treasure - the igniting of dreams, the giving life to dreams

It is a treasure designed to be shared.

Thank you for joining me and allowing me to have this place of honour. It effects me. We effect one another.

I will leave you with some words written into song by a group called Mattafix in 2007 to alert people to the tragedy happening in Darfur. The song is great but there are two lines that effect me. First I was alerted to the song because of the words.

"See the nation through the people's eyes"   Morenian surely, sociodramatic as well.
"Where others turn and sigh  - you shall rise."

I've turned and sighed many times in this life. These methods and you, have assisted me to rise. You haven't turned aside from me when you could easily have "turned and sighed"

And to not turn and sigh. People turn and sigh about Darfur, about Gaza and Israel, about indigenous relations, global warming, politics.

I want to rise, I don't want to turn and sigh. I want to turn and face. And I want others who dream of turning and facing of finding ways to do so. Finding ways to do so with their dreams ignited, with their spontaneity engaged and growing.

Deafness no more. This is the Morenian legacy - to ignite bones, ignite dreams, and I want you to join with me in helping others to dream again.

"We are the ones we have been waiting for" and this is not the time for lone wolves.