Atrapos.eu » Creative

My letter to THE GUARDIAN (“Marbles in Exile”)

atrapos — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:42:06 +0000

As am writing my Discussion chapter about mobility between countries/cultures etc, there is a HOT debate again in British newspapers about the Greek Marbles of the Parthenon (Elgin vandalised them and they were shipped to London over a century ago) due to the official opening of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens this coming Sunday where there is space for them to return ‘home’. In response to those publicities, i sent a letter to the GUARDIAN yesterday, as per below:

FOR THE ‘LETTERS’ SECTION in ‘THE GUARDIAN’ (more…)

Ulysses poem by Tennyson

atrapos — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:02:06 +0000

The metaphors of travel, journey, home and return or not are at the core of my project and i find creative ways of associating with the meanings, here is another poem to record, where Tennyson gets inspired by my deal Greek Odysseus (Ulysses for the Romans, never mind!)

Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson

It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Match’d with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.
I cannot rest from travel; I will drink (more…)

Metaphor for the PhD (‘on the boat’…august 2008)

atrapos — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:41:31 +0000

I am now about to begin my final PhD year and there is so much to do, it does feel really chaotic as i need to deal with so many readings, so much writing to do, analyse the data, see how i will come to the ’synthesis’ of the whole piece, decisions to be made about how to tell the tale…I have noticed that i am more confident now in terms of how i manage ( at least emotionaly ) the challenges thrown at me by the whole research/PhD life, but it it still a path that i need to walk and complete, giving my best shot, finding inspiration for the authorship of it and bringing it to a good standard quality

I was writing few pages in my research diary and a metaphor came up for me to capture ‘ where i am at’ at present with the PhD. I wrote: (more…)

Doing a PhD feels like driving a van…

atrapos — Sat, 31 May 2008 10:40:12 +0000

I was walking down the road yesterday morning and i met a friend. she asked me: “so, how is the PhD going?”…I paused for a bit to think of how i could capture the sense i have at the moment and replied by saying: “well, it feels like driving a van. It is huge, needs a lot of manoeuvring and you dont have a clear sense of its ‘body’, you dont have visibility of the edges of the vehicle, just a general sense of it but still you keep driving, turning, accelerating, pushing the brakes, looking at mirrors and constantly loading and off-loading”. My friend looked at me and said: “wow, this is such a demonstrative metaphor…i once applied for a PhD too but eventually didnt start cause i was scared it would take over my life”. I responded by saying: “well, it does, at least at some point, it needs your full attention…like when you are on the wheel…but you become experienced driver as the time passes and more confident on the road”.

Thinking about this metaphor…I must admit that i have always been a good driver. I gained my license since i was about 19 and i have driven in both sides (left and right) without EVER having any accident. I was also told that i look confident on the wheel and people have felt comfortable when riding togeher…but i have only driven small cars so far…not a van! and i dont think i look like a big guy with a moustache and tatoos, with a cigar in my mouth like some van drivers i have seen….lol…well, here i am now though, with a PhD that does feel like trying to manoeuvre a big vehicle…and i do like i always did as a driver…keep driving, even if i felt a bit on edge at times…it then became automatic and natural…is that the same with a van? or will i eventually feel that it is not a van anymore but just my own vehicle that i will have known well and maybe had become the ‘extension of my body’ like i feel with a normal sized car?

are western therapy models best for all?

atrapos — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:08:45 +0000

there is a big debate about the ‘western dominance’ in terms of therapy concepts, discourse, theory, ways of practice etc and the questions that are being re-visited, i would say rather slowly, given that potentially issues of power are being challenged as a result, are whether western theories and models are universal and applicable to all cultures and societies etc. My supervisor Dr. West ( and a few of us in such debates) have been challenging such ideas. He recently wrote a poem on his blog, titled SUPPOSE (see:http://billonbike.blogspot.com/2008/05/one-minute-of-fame.html – he shares that with an audience of counsellors at a recent conference!) where he is questioning whether West knows best in terms of counselling/therapy. As i read it, i came up with my own poem, titled YOU WONDER and i share it below: (more…)

Group supervision – archetypes

atrapos — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:41:28 +0000

We had our monthly PhD group supervision today and as we were doing the ‘checking out’ round amongst the students in my group, we relaised that we all find ourselves drawing insights from Jungian writings, especially those related to archetypes. I think this is because all of us in the group explore some kind of human experience phenomenon in a qualitative, in-depth way and this somehow connects us to symbolisms and concepts inherent in what Jung called ‘the collective unconscious’, hence and our interest in that field. My fellow student emailed to me those 2 web-links about archetypes that i will look at soon, togteher with some Jungian books from the library:

http://www.myss.com/library/contracts/three_archs.asp

http://www.herowithin.com/arch101.html

‘like a tourist in one’s country’

atrapos — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:19:04 +0000

I went to the cinema last night and watched that amazing film, called THE KITE RUNNER by director Marc Forster, It was such a moving story in the context of war-divided Afghanistan who led to immigration of the protagonist etc etc. So much to say about teh plot, the actors, the photography, the music the messaged conveyed, the official site of the film can be viewed here

There is this scene in the film where the protagonist who moved to the US to escape the war returns to his hometomn Kabul, when destroyed by the Taliban etc and says this phrase: “I feel like a tourist in my own country”. This is something that is so vivid to most immigrants, specially those that were forced to migrate due to was and political atrocities. However, this feeling is not far from reality also for many who were not forced to migrate, like myself and many of the participants in my research who actually chose to move abroad… (more…)

‘Love’ your research (the metaphor of the abyss)

atrapos — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:21:50 +0000

Love day today and at university we had this seminar about ‘loving’ our research…:-). I shall admit that doing a PhD is like having a partner, in a love and hate relationship almost…there are moments that u are inspired and ‘in love’ with the whole thing and other times that it all gets too overwhelming and you nearly feel like throwing everything out of the window…i see that i develop ‘compassion’ towards myself through the research process and ofter the Thesis gets personified into a ‘being’ that i relate to in different ways. I see that in other PhD students also when we talk about that process which is actually comforting (more…)

Counsellor as a Chameleon

atrapos — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:35:21 +0000

A question i pose during my research interviews is inviting the participant to think of a metaphor/image that would describe them as therapists (what they have become as a result of moving between cultures/experiencing cross-cultural transitions etc). This is something that my supervisor advised me to do in order to invite more unconscious/tacit responses to emerge, as a way of unblocking certain experiences or feelings that may be difficult to be put into words. The metaphor of a Chameleon [means "Earth lion" and is derived from the Greek words chamai (on the ground, on the earth) and leon (lion)] is one that has come up often.

William has been writing a chapter about Pittu’s work and he came up with those relevant paragraphs, that also echo my personal experience, to some extent, he calls this section “Counsellor as Chameleon”: (more…)

a message from Tarot!

atrapos — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:59:30 +0000

My supervisor sent me an email today and said that the description of one of the tarot cards (:)) that he found somehwere seems to describe some of the psychological state that happens to those that move between cultures-when in a liminal space and guided by Hermetic processes (Stein, In Midlife book), including myself as i was telling him in our last meeting…that is: (more…)

metaphors for the PhD

atrapos — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:40:49 +0000

am having so many metaphors about the PhD in my mind and i guess depending on what stage it is, it takes different forms…I am usually not creative, or to be more accurate i maybe inhibit my creativity cause i think it cant easily happen in a second language (for example i couldnt easily have a poem inspiration in english)….but with imagery and metaphor it is different…it’s beyond language…and maybe i came in touch with it now and dont want to lose it. so, here am recording some of this process: (more…)

Sufi poem arrived at the right time…thanks A. !

atrapos — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:17:41 +0000

ii feel humbled when i realise that i can actually receive help myself from a research participant (similar feeling to when i am feeling i am growing as a result of working with clients in counselling…). I had written an email to A. (now in canada) about my experience of our interview. in that email, i kind of cimmunicated to him that i am in a process of finding new perspectives etc and how his experience was so much different than mine. JHe wrote back, offering a sufi poem which just spoke inside me, just at the right time, when feeling low, and needing sth to uplift me togo though the panel. Here it is: (more…)

Sea-Fever, Return to Ithaca…and the like

atrapos — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:36:19 +0000

Today I received a letter from C. that reflected upon the conversation i had with her around ‘where is home?’, the struggle of returning to one’s homeland where is feels like a ‘foreign land’ and the whole area of ‘cross-cultural transitions’ as my research topic. I can see links with the Odyssey and the return to Ithaka etc…but she also sent me a poem by an english poet that reflects come of this ‘journeying’ through the seas…in a feverish way of emotion. Here is it: (more…)

How to Just Be

atrapos — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 10:42:10 +0000

Whatever the tasks, whatever i do, i know i can not produce any work,any research, any relatonship etc without being able to just be….there is so much emphasis in the ‘doing’ that things do not flow after all…it’s been a while i have been feeling ’stuck’, hence not much entry lately in this blog…i just need to BE for now…i just found the following poem that ’speaks’ some of this truth, it is by widesmiles.org (1996): (more…)

Home…

atrapos — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 19:19:05 +0000

Lola, my artist friend wrote today:

my new writing:

“SOMETIMES I RING MY DOOR-BELL,
AND NOBODY ANSWERS.

THEN I REALISE I AM NOT AT HOME”

This reflects the ways the ’sojourner’ (and not only) exeriences the lack of sense of having a home, the belongigness…with the sense of loss within the self…it’s is a psychological state related to transitions and constant moves…something to keep in mind, in creative ways, if possible

Liminal spaces…stillness, emptiness and silence

atrapos — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:41:58 +0000

I have been feeling a bit ‘lost’ in my process lately, as the research process is triggering many of my own wounds, sth that makes my vision blur due to the pain that overtakes my territory…I know that this is common in heuristic, qualitative studies. My dear friend Lola (a slovac artist) send me a quote that cherishes the importance of the ‘gap’, the nothing between things: (more…)

Christa’s metaphor for my PhD: fairytale basket

atrapos — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:47:58 +0000

During the last PhD group supervision meeting (12 Jan 07), when I was trying to describe my researh topic and my confusions around it to a couple of new group members, Christa came up with an image that she described so vividly, as she usually does when expressing herself. I asked her to send it to me in writing as she is so demonstrative with images and i received an email from her today, titled “fairytale basket” where she describes that image of me going for a research interview with participants holding this colourful basket with an egg in it (representing the ’spiritual’ thread of the toipc explored). Here is how Christa describes it: (more…)

Heuristic Research & Creativity

atrapos — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 14:31:14 +0000

As Moustakas (1994:11) states: “From the beginning and throughout an investigation, heuristic research involves self-search, self-dialogue and self-discovery“. This process has been very intense during a period of months now and it often brings out either the hopeful or inspirational sides of the self or other, darker or more negative ones. As I engage in this self-dialogue and since I am a self-reflexive practitioner, seeing myself and all of us in that ‘journey of becoming’, it is often that more than one roles operate inside me, including that of the client, the counsellor, the researcher. Demonstrations of such a process come out either in a shift within relationships or through writing text or even in more creative ways (important part of the heuristic process) like in a form of a poem, dream, drawing etc. In addition to that, there is a hope for self-healing or coming closer to a more integrated whole, as a result of being on the research field. There was a momnet during a rainy evening in autumn that I wrote the following poem: (more…)