Pom Pom Pull Away
In a recent RIM (Regenerating Images in Memory) session with founder and psychotherapist, Dr. Deb Sandella, I was taken back through meditation to the earliest memory of distress, one that shook my world. It was when I was four in Aurora, SD. According to Gerald Powell of Rythmia, before a person is 5 or 6, something happens to disconnect them from their soul parts. When he said this, I thought, “Not me. My childhood was amazing.” I soon to discovered many things happened to me when I was young that are still having an impact on my life now. These memories are stored in our body as emotions and then, act as blocks to our growth and development.
Everyone has something happen in their early childhood that rattles their world; many of us, numerous occasions. Most of us don’t keep these memories active but store them deep inside. It is in looking at these memories and acknowledging their stored energy or emotion that helps them go away and stop affecting our current life. In the Healing 101: Aligning with Your Higher Self Step 2: Clear the Muck, we look inside our minds to unearth the events, emotions and blocks that are limiting our success. This RIM technique is a perfect way to do sort through memories and emotions.
Innocent Game of Tackling
Back to the story. We lived in the rectory of the Catholic Church in this small town of 500 or so. Our house actually had confessionals in the basement, where we played “church” often. There were three of us kids and we were allowed to roam all over the town with the only stipulation of being home for dinner when the church bell rang at 5:00. It was a wonderful place to live and as young children we felt free to explore.
My Dad, brother Brett, sister Debbie and other neighborhood kids and I were playing the favorite outdoor game of Pom Pom Pull Away. It begins with one person being “it” and standing in “the middle”. Everyone else is lined up along one edge of a field. The “it” person yells “Pom pom pull away. Come away or I’ll pull you away.” According to the Database of Games, all the people have to run to the other side of the field without getting tagged by the “it” person. However, because my Dad grew up playing football in Iowa, each person had to be tackled, not just tagged. If you are tackled, you join the “it” person and help tackle the runners. Eventually, there is one person who has not been tackled. They should be the winner. However, as I recall, it just meant that the last person standing was tackled by all the other players.
This time, I was the last girl standing. Now my dad is a large, strong man. When I was clobbered and landed in the bottom of a stack of children along with my giant father, I thought I might die. The wind was knocked out of me and I couldn’t breathe. I was literally squished by everyone. It scared the dickens out of me. Once down, it actually took what seemed like a long time for people to get off of me. It was terrifying for my four-year-old self.
Peeling the Onion
It’s surprising that such a seemly innocent event would wreak havoc on my life as an adult. I look back and understand that we were just playing and no one was to blame for my situation. Nonetheless, I was a tiny child under a whole bunch of bigger people and they could not hear me and did not know I was in trouble. It was very interesting to have it come up. My initial question for Dr. Deb Sandella was, “Why do I have this sense of not being heard?”
Going through the RIM process of moving your awareness into the feeling and asking the energy for more information led to the earliest experience of having that feeling. Having your awareness fully in that energy helps it dissipate. It’s as though it is calling our attention to it and once acknowledged, the feelings and emotions go away, enabling us to move forward in a healthier way.
We talk about peeling the onion in personal growth conversations. This RIM process helps peel the onion by allowing your imagination to bring about stored energy or emotions that need our attention. Then, we move our awareness into the spaces and they dissipate. I am in the midst of a six month RIM certification program. It is very helpful and quite fun. Please call me if you are open to giving it a try at 303-881-0872 or email me at becky@beckyprater.com. I am doing FREE sessions through my official certification program.