We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced. — Malala Yousafzai

Genogram Reflections

Yesterday you worked on at least 3 generations of your family genogram. Today I'd like for you to review that work and explore the following questions. Read all the questions and pick the ones that resonates most for you. You can start and stop this writing exercise as different things come up for you.

• What stories are important enough to be handed down in your family? 
• What early family member traumas have impacted later generations? What early family strengths have impacted later generations?
• What stories are unspoken in your family?
• What do you now know about yourself and/or your family that you failed to see before? 
• Who or what is the family proud of? Who or what is your family ashamed of?
• What secrets does the family hide from others?
• What is the family’s story about itself? How do you fit in with that story? Write about your family’s sense of itself and your response to (or belief in) that family story.

Great work!

StoryList

Your development and reflection on the genogram may have generated some story ideas or shaped some of your existing ideas. Please write those down in your StoryList notebook. (We have about five more days before you decide on your specific story.)

The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off. — Gloria Steinem