Who’s In Your “Love Army?”
Not all family comes from a place of birth.
Often those situations can be traumatic, painful and unhealthy. If we take a minute to pause we can notice in our lives that we’ve all experienced trauma. However, to some it just looks really different.
Day after day my heart fills with awe at how a community can create love and purpose in the lives of others who would not otherwise receive it.
Here’s a question worth taking a moment to ponder an answer… who is in your “love army”? You know, those that hold you up, who you depend on and help define a part of who we are. What would society look like if we encouraged emotional connectedness? There would be community, passion, empathy, connection.
At OIM we have an extra special program called the Freedom Group. Here we come together in a safe, confidential space where we share, laugh, make connections in a beautiful community and use art to express ourselves. This month we are talking about the topics of community and purpose; how they affect us individually and how we can positively impact others around us.
This week for our art medium we brought out our inner child and used playdough. It feels great to express yourself with something as it squishes between your fingers, just like puddle jumping in the rain.
Using our super cool, tangible coloured dough balls we answered 2 questions; 1. Who do you depend on? Who’s in your “love army”? 2. What makes you feel alive?
Each creating unique masterpieces to answer, we shared what they meant. The unanimous conclusion seemed to be that our “love army” did not come from the family home; rather the extra special people surrounding us that have our backs in the dark times as well as times of personal growth.
What about you? Who’s in your “love army?”
-Bonnie
Youth Outreach Worker