Old Wise Woman sits calmly in her rocker, weaving the collective memory of
those she tries to keep alive, like roots feeding from her heart, her spirit,
taking all the color of her life.  She is white, a vessel, the roots extend from her
vessel, the roots extend from her chest bleeding all her color.

She is old, old, not in years but in wisdom, a woman who carries within her the
memories of her ancestors, of her family's collective unconscious inscribed in
her genes.  Stories passed from generations, evidence of lives lived and now
no more than a dream, real or unreal.

The memories she holds on to are not of significant accomplishments of
individuals but rather the everyday evidences of their lives encoded in a cup, a
doll, a cobblers knife, a lantern and on and on in all the things that remind her
of them, a token that says they existed.

Now she is aware of her own passing to come.  Will anyone know her story,
that she lived, or shall she be forgotten when her children are gone?  Is it
important that her life be remembered - valued by others?  She is beginning to
see that it is not.

Her life is only meant to be her life - important for the purpose of her own
soul's journey.  It may have meaning for others but that is not her primary
purpose for living.

As she weaves the roots of her family and the memories that reside in her
heart she feels the heaviness of trying to keep them all alive.

So, she begins to give up the burden of keeping her ancestors, her roots alive.  
She needs not prove their lives had worth.  They know that themselves.  She
lets go of the past, the pain of it as well as the pleasure.

She lets go then and the place within her heart becomes light  -- and she can
breathe.  If she were to hold on she would die, not physical death but the death
of her spirit.

Her ancestors say to her, "Old Wise Woman, it is time to let us go, time for you
to be free.  Your soul has been rooted deeply in hanging on to our many, many
lives.  Your living has been about the state of earthly survival but it is now
time your living be a state of spiritual bliss.  It is possible!
LET GO and you shall truly live."

It scares her!  All the things she has loved, that identified who she was, her
likes, her way.  Now give them away?  Who then will she be?

She shall discover.......

.
    LETTING GO OF HANGING ON
                             1993
Enduring cancer treatment while dealing    
with the deaths of my mother and father
and working as a State Licensed
Professional Counselor and Art Therapist






















John M. Schneider, 72, of Michigan, died Tuesday,
April 12, 2011, at his home.  John received a
Distinguished Professor Emeritus from Michigan
State University's Colleges of Medicine for service
from 1979-1995.  During that time he also received a
distinguished Faculty Award.  John's clinical focus
became one of developing holistic healing
programs for people with chronic of life-threatening
illness while also addressing grief and loss issues.  
He also saw a need to develop healing communities
as a part of individual and collective ways to live
fully.

Before his untimely death due to complications from
a fall, John had just completed the third edition of
"Finding My Way - From Trauma to Transformation:  
The Journey through Loss and Grief"  (Seasons
Press, 2011), representing a culmination of his
lifelong commitment to address grief holistically and
validate each unique grief journey including his
own. Finding My Way is available at
www.amazom.com/books.www.amazon.com/books,
Finding My Way - John Schneider

He deeply loved his family knowing intimately that
grief's journey is a powerful teacher of what is truly
to be cherished in our lifetime.  

                   LETTING GO OF HANGING ON
                                       1993
My special thanks to John Schneider, my friend,
clinical colleague and support for me during my
encounter with cancer.  John was an inspiration to
my clinical and spiritual work with grief, death and
dying and inspired my arts therapy creations.