Mindfulness creates the internal environment that makes Focusing possible. But mindfulness alone will not bring you to the source of your own creativity, another step is needed. In mindfulness practices, we watch our emotions and thoughts float by like clouds, in doing so, we become aware that we are more than any one of them. But what if these uncomfortable thoughts and feelings have gifts for us? What if our wounds are wellsprings of creativity and authentic change. What if what they need are attending, care, and healing. It is often scary to listen to the inner cries that arise from a wound and yet, this listening can make the hugest difference because pain is our alert system…a wise system that lets us know something wants to grow or that a change is needed. Yet our culture and various aspects of diverse religious worldviews teach us to fear what is angry or sad or hurt within us–as if acknowledging those things would exile us from communities we deeply adhere to and have found belonging in. I the practice of focusing we learn to accompany, acknowledge, and listen to the exile, not to change it or even agree with it, but because we know it is there for a good reason and it will keep crying until it is fully heard and understood. And if we stick with this process, it actually shifts of its own accord, yeilding real authentic change steps that lead us forward in fresh new ways. I once had a young catholic monk tell me he didn’t know how to deal with women who were angry that they can’t be ordained in that faith. I asked him, tell me, you have been in seminary for a while and are almost finished, what makes people angry? He said, “well..when they feel there has been injustice..when they are hurting.” I said, then how do you minister to hurting people, to those who have witnessed or feel wounded by injustice? He said, “you listen to them.” I said, “yes..then you have just answered your own question. This is what the practice called Focusing helps us to cultivate…our ability to listen to the things that cry out within us because these are the wellsprings for real change. If you can stick with the process…you will be amazed to discover that the difficult, taboo feelings and thoughts that arise within us are not wanting to harm us but lead us toward ever greater authenticity, change, and justice.