Sometimes working with clients can feel like descending into a black hole – bottomless, dark and “into the void”

I’ve always worked creatively with clients and in my own therapy. So some years ago, I went into the Fabric Shop in my local village and asked for a very large piece of felt in black.  They sold felt in great rolls like other materials, so I was fairly certain I could get the size I wanted.

The guys who ran it knew me from previous visits rummaging around in the remnants boxes and getting off-cuts, bits and pieces and all sorts of trimmings.  But they knew nothing of my work.

I stated the size I wanted in felt.  And the colour.

One of the guys asked me what on earth I was going to do with that amount of black felt....

I took a deep breath.  I assessed everything in a split second as you do sometimes. Everything I knew about them, about me and what I was doing.

And I said:  “I’m making a black hole”.

There was a pause.

Back came the reply.  “A lot of **** going in there then”.    I smiled.  And breathed again.

They understood the concept of delving into the dark places.  They understood the concept of getting rid of the bad stuff from the past.  Our eyes met and we connected with the process.  “Oh yes” I replied.

A black hole may be where we find all the dark shadows of our life.  It may be the place where we cast off those black elements it’s time to discard.

Working creatively with that is unbelievably powerful.

So, I took that “Black Hole” to my next therapy session and dumped all my stuff in it.  And left feeling like I had reached a real milestone.

Unbelievably powerful.

Even tutors, supervisors and therapists have stuff destined for the Black Hole.