When the word guilt came up in my counseling sessions I’d take out computer paper and skinny markers. The first action was writing across the top of the paper, "Quilt of Love." The next was listing at the bottom good times remembered about the person, where guilt for a situation remained.
After the list contained a number of entries, the next step was to draw a rectangle from the top of the paper to the bottom list; then, to make the two rows at the top into four squares that, one by one, were colored in to resemble a quilt—each square representing a good memory.
Every client had her or his painful story memorized as if recorded on a cassette tape. I found that the shapes and colors of the drawings reached into inner places and opened doors long closed, so healing came forth from within the person—I was the outer guide, suggesting a way.
A Flower for God: A Memoir