Blob Cliff
I passed around this last Blob tool and asked a question. "Which of the Blobs best describes
you during a time in your life when you were near the cliff edge or went over the
edge?" This time I asked for a volunteer to go first. A flow of volunteers followed, each
talking freely about an extremely tough time. The Blob tool was just an aid to articulation,
reflection, not cracking up but cracking open. A children's home experience. A failure of
all adults to be consistent. The pain of desertion and rejection. Abuse. Violence. Everyone
spoke. Everyone listened. There was a powerful climate of mutual support. Empathy. Deepness. Calm. "I am not alone ..................."
"We become fully conscious only of what we are able to express to someone else. We may
already have had a certain inner intuition about it, but it must remain vague so long as it is
unformulated" Paul Tournier - The Meaning of Persons
I had injected little comments in-between each person. Encouraging, acknowledging and
affirming. Sharing myself. It was clear that we were approaching a natural end. Again I
thanked them - and said I had just one more thing to ask. "I want to ask you one more question - if you will, will you ask me a question?" The response was wondrous. Powerful,
sensitive, probing questions. One was about what makes me accept everyone without
judgement. This one was from a young man who earlier had said how he had lost all faith in
humans and was therefore modelling his life on a celebrity. Using the language of this rap
artiste. His drugs and drinking. His clothing too.
Blob YMCA Training Manual
Growth does not reside in a place called comfortable