21/11/2025
Part of a poem by Sally Atkins (full version below) that was shared at a group supervision session a few weeks ago. The facilitator was encouraging us to think about the power of presence and “not doing” in therapy. How “listening into being” can be enough. How acceptance and empathy can transform.
It was beneficial to think about this in the context of client work, but the words have stayed in my mind and become so relevant over the last 10 days as I’ve been on retreat away from home. A group of people who were strangers to each other are now friends - and there has been lots of deep listening, hearing about each other’s cultures, religions, experiences, feelings, families. It’s been a completely unplanned and unexpected part of my time here, but I have been lucky to find myself amongst some very friendly and fascinating humans from all corners of India and the world. It’s been a real gift and I’ve loved the both the sharing and listening. As Sally says: We are all in this story together 🤍
Tell Me, She Said
Tell me, she said:
What is the story you are telling?
What wild song is singing itself through you?
Listen:
In the silence between there is music;
In the spaces between there is story.
It is the song you are living now,
It is the story of the place where you are.
It contains the shapes of these old mountains,
The green of the rhododendron leaves.
It is happening right now in your breath,
In your heart beat still
Drumming the deeper rhythm
Beneath your cracking words.
It matters what you did this morning
And last Saturday night
And last year,
Not because you are important
But because you are in it
And it is still moving.
We are all in this story together.
Listen:
In the silence between there is music;
In the spaces between there is story.
Pay attention:
We are listening each other into being.
Sally Atkins
-
