The Symptom Bearer role is complex. Carrying the weight of hidden family feelings is no joke. I’ve come upon ravines to be crossed, rivers to swim, and catacombs to be explored.
When interviewed as an Xtreme Symptom Bearer Trekker, I frequently say, “Bearing the weight of the Past is felt by everyone, and it is the Symptom Bearers who can contribute most to releasing this weight.”
A Symptom Bearer is aware of a Feeling Language not acknowledged by the Family System in which they were raised. I was raised in a mid-fifties American Society that had yet to recognize family dysfunction. So, I learned about relational dynamics from great writers of the time — Steinberg, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Cather, Pearl S. Buck, and The Hardy Boys. I saw myself as a cowboy, secret agent, spy, or a smooth singer and dancer, always getting what I wanted, cool and collected.
A Symptomer bearer is many things. I had to learn how to hack Common Language Code to find Portals leading to Hidden Feelings, mine this data, sort and file for effective future access, and find ways to keep myself from getting lost in overwhelming and unbearable sensations. It is easy to label such sensations as pain. To lock into stories of disorder and other stigmatization tactics. But I learned to treat life as a neverending white water rafting expedition. I got dumped and nearly died countless times, and I…
