Letter from the President
Joanne
Twombly, LICSW
Excerpted from the April, 2003
NESTTD Newsletter
Dear
NESTTD Members and Supporters,
This year my worry about whether spring will ever come
pales in comparison with my worry about the seeming certainty of war, and the
increasingly negative view many countries seem to be rapidly developing of us.
I find myself automatically doing what Ellert Nijenhuis would refer to as
restricting my field of consciousness to disclude any newspaper articles except
for the funnies, listening to the radio, ignoring my e-mails and then
consciously expanding it back again to take in what is happening, write letters,
sign petitions, and actually think about it.
I decided to go to the European
Conference on Traumatic Stress in Berlin in May to expand my view on trauma in
the world, signed up for it at a moment when my field of consciousness was
restricted, and thought nothing of it.
A reality check came from a friend who lives in
Berlin
who’s waiting to see what’s happening in the world before she commits to
visit here in April. Another came from the brother in law of a friend who’d
just flown here from
Germany
for his brother’s funeral. He
spoke movingly about his concerns about this potential war, its effect on the
world, and then about World War II. He
wondered how so many people in his country could have followed Hitler so
absolutely and was filled with sadness about that and the prospect of this war.
Then I wondered, should I be traveling in May?
Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, I guess I’ll wait and see.
Meanwhile, things go on, and we all make
plans that for the most part, aren’t very different than we’d be doing
anyway, and I’m happy we still have that luxury, although it grieves me that
many don’t and concerns me that maybe we won’t.
For instance, I’m very much looking forward to the Elgan Baker workshop
especially since I’ve had the chance to speak to Lana Epstein and Claire
Frederick who have studied with him. I
get the impression that I will come away with information that will really help
my work with clients, and also know it’s wonderful to learn from people who
are hypnosis trained because they pay close attention to minimal cues and are
tuned in to the subtlety of language in a way most of us aren’t.
I’m also looking forward to all our speakers for next year.
The Program Committee has been exceeding expectations, as they say!
See you all at the Elgan Baker workshop, and spring is coming!
P.S. My thanks and apologies to everyone who sat on the floor or
outside the door for Dan Brown’s exceedingly well attended meeting.
Rest assured we will have more space at Mass Medical for the Elgan Baker
workshop.
Sincerely,
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