Exploring the Dry Gables Series - "As I Truly Am"
The stories from the two Dry Gables Series include an accompanying post from the Sparkle Schoolhouse Educator, Meredith Markow. Each post offers insights into the characters and dynamics of the stories, along with suggestions for how to use the stories as parenting or teaching tools!
Hello again, Sparkle Friends! Nice to be with you and our nurse and healer of Dry Gables, Liesl Herz, featured in the story "As I Truly Am" from the Dry Gables: Hands Together collection.
Liesl is a member of the Herz family, and she is concerned with all matters of the heart. She finds tremendous joy serving others from a pure heart. She is genuinely loving, but also she wants to be seen as loving. She needs to be seen as she truly is. Liesls are empathetic and warmhearted, and they are also friendly, thoughtful, generous and sincerely concerned for the welfare of others. They have an extraordinary ability to feel the feelings of others, and they are willing to go out of their way to help and support others especially in times of need. But all of this can come to a cost for our Liesls, for sometimes being and feeling loved helps to cover up what may be underlying feelings that are hard for her to feel.
Liesl is saying: “I want to help!”
But when she doesn’t feel that she can help, or that she is needed, she can try harder and harder to be needed. This can lead to Liesls becoming needy themselves while denying that they have needs at all. And sometimes, even though you reassure your Liesl that she is needed, she won’t be convinced because deep down she feels insecure.
Even though you can’t convince Liesl that she is loved and needed, you can bring balance to that need by helping to develop her self-worth and self-compassion from within. This is where we need our Seamuses! Seamus models for Liesl the importance of discovering what lies deep within, and how to navigate feeling those emotions, even if they are uncomfortable. With Seamus’s help, Liesl came to admit that she was worried that there was no way that Dr. Fenton Clark could replace her. He helped her to identify her anger and to make room for it.
“I know anger” he said slowly nodding his head, “But I know sadness even more. Most people don’t fancy sadness – and I can’t say that I fancy it much either – but … it is a part of who I am. It is a way I can see the world – know the world.” This is essential for our Liesls!
What we hope for our Leisls is they can get in touch with their feelings, especially their angry ones. We hope for them to know, to really know, “I am aware of myself as I really am, and I unconditionally accept myself.”
So, when your little Leisl is showing you signs that she is insecure and is looking for others’ love in place of being able to feel and know her lovability, try helping her to discover first, that there is room for whatever she is feeling, and that she is loved for being as she truly is, from her head, through her heart, to her toes!
Here’s what you can do to bring a little Seamus to your Leisl:
Have BodyChat! Find creative ways to help your Liesl to not only get in touch with what she's feeling, but also to be able to remain present to those feelings, if they are uncomfortable. For example you can draw pictures together and highlight parts of the body where there may be strong sensations and then ask those parts what they're trying to say. Draw a body cartoon! You can also do this in conversation or as a little improvisation.
Create art! Not just for the purpose of exploring and conversing about feelings, but rather just as an expressive creative outlet so that those feelings have a place to be honored. Paint, draw, play music, singing, act together, use beeswax or clay, or make a colored sand jar. There are so many great crafts that you can refer to in the Sparkle Blog!
FAF! Come up with a simple two- or three-step process that your Liesl can use anytime she starts to feel a little uncomfortable. I offer a suggestion here, but even better would be for you to discover what works for you and then to use it yourself. That will be far more effective than anything that I advise! For example, you could use a process I call FAF—Feel Accept Flow. Show your little Liesl how she can first Feel what is going on in her body, then to Accept It, and then to just let it Flow over her. Easy peasy. Nothing that you need to change or fix. But as I said, experiment and see what works for you! And then trust it.
Journal! If your Lisle is a writer, go with him or her to the store and buy a special journal either with lined paper or with blank paper. Or make one together! That way your Liesl can write and/or draw whatever she wants to do in that moment to say what she needs to say!
Ask-it Basket! Make a little appreciation basket at your home, and when ever your family members think about it, put a “thank you” complement for each other into the basket as well as maybe a little “please” where you all can ask for something that you need!
Our Liesls need our Seamuses! Hands Together!
*Seamus brings self-nurturing and emotional awareness to our ever so helpful, sweet and loving Liesl, when she needs to be reminded that she is loved and needed as she truly is!*
About the Author
Meredith Markow
Meredith has been working with adults and children of all ages for the past 25 years as a Waldorf Teacher and Educational Consultant. She received a B.A. with a focus on child development and child psychology from the University of Michigan, in 1984, an M.A. Ed from Washington University in 1987, and her Waldorf Teaching Certificate from the Lehrerausbildung (Teacher Training) in Nurnberg, Germany in 1989. She was certified as a Living Inquiries Facilitator in 2014, and she completed her formal teaching certification with The Enneagram Institute in 2014. Her work in the classroom and with individuals and groups is designed to help people of all ages to drop self-limiting beliefs to live a more joyful and compassionate life.
