What is your very first reaction to the following scenario:
You are sitting in a room full of people.
The room is quiet, and you are all observing a person standing in front of the room.
That person takes a piece of paper, calmly wads up the paper, and simply drops it to the floor.
What is your first thought?
My friend recently told me about this exercise, and I thought folks here might find it interesting, too. My friend grew up in an abusive home. Her first thought was "not good enough". She heard this a lot when growing up and didn't realize how much she internalized it.
My first reaction was to say nothing, but to go over and pick that paper up Quick!, before the powers that be noticed, became dissatisfied, and all heck broke loose. This also reflects dynamics in my FOO.
This exercise is so interesting to me. Wadded paper on the floor is so neutral (it could mean anything or nothing), but it allows our non-neutral (meaningful) thoughts to come out.