The Villain acts on the Hero

This part of the story is very difficult for the teller to describe, but it is where healing begins!

If you are telling your story, this is about telling when the damage is done. This is where your heart felt the injustice. Give yourself some time to feel and move through the event. Notice that you can learn to distance yourself from it and move forward with your life. This is when you get to rethink the event, but it is important to make the story tell the tale in fantastic way that allows you to have some distance from the pain of this experience. Give yourself the gift of metaphor. With a metaphor, you can know what you are talking about without reliving the experience.

Bear was sitting on a rock scratching and resting and watching her cubs play in the sun. The cubs were romping in the field near by.

Coyote slinked by and began to chide Bear. “ Your children are awful!” he said. “ Look at them! They have serious behavior problems. They are big and loud and disruptive. You don’t control them and they are going to get into the wrong places and get stuck in a zoo. This is all because you don’t do right by them. You see them through rosy glasses. It is time for you to take them off. Take them off for the sake of your cubs!” Coyote was just getting started and the flint started flying everywhere. His paws were full of flint and Coyote was in a roll. “Your children are so wild that they can’t learn anything about how to get along in the world. You haven’t made them learn the important stuff and they fight with each other. In fact, I talked to all the other animals and they all told me that they believe you have completely unacceptable child rearing practices.”

Flint flew everywhere!

“The other animals are not as honest and truthful as I am but they are all thinking the same thing. I am filled with courage and they are not courageous enough to tell you the truth. You need to understand that I am your only true friend. As your only true friend, this is an awesome responsibility. I am the only one who will speak the truth to you.” Flint flew everywhere.

Bear was a big target and since she needed to stay close to her cubs, she couldn’t run away and anyway, she didn’t want to hurt Coyotes feelings. The whole situation was confusing because words and shards were so unconnected and bewildering. The shards hit her painfully. This weird ordeal happened fast.

Next we will look at how Bear dealt with the trauma.