believes that Jim might take advantage of her vulnerability,
criticize her, or push her away. Then she would feel even
worse. So she discusses this inner conflict with her friends.
Unfortunately they have no useful advice for her.
Suddenly a movie scene appears to Sally: The character,
Helen, in Sliding Doors (1998) did not seem to worry about her
vulnerability when she ran into her boyfriend James on the
street after having been separated for some time. She remem-
bers that Helen expressed her desire for James even though she
was not sure whether he was still interested in her. Sally
decides to watch this film again and pays close attention to this
scene. In the movie Helen looks like she put herself out on a
limb. She looks emotionally vulnerable but not weak at all. In
fact, she seems kind of courageous and strong, allowing herself
to be so open and vulnerable. James responds with emotional
openness too, and they develop a close relationship.
Sally feels very inspired. Suddenly she can identify with
Helen. What Helen demonstrated, Sally can do too. Her per-
ception of Jim changes as well. Remembering how good-
hearted her boyfriend actually is, she suddenly realizes that they
will have an opportunity to experience more emotional close-
ness as soon as she apologizes for her yelling and expresses the
truth about the hurt she had felt beneath her anger.Cindysits in a doctor’s waiting room reading a magazine
about psychology. She learns that children who grow up with
alcoholic and dysfunctional parents usually believe that their
experience is normal. She also finds out that this normalization
is their way of coping with the pain of their unfortunate situa-
tion. That’s how these children make their lives work. They do
not have a choice because they depend on their parents for
physical survival and emotional well-being. The article contin-
ues that later in life these children frequently create dysfunc-
tional families of their own. Cindy is surprised because she
grew up as an only child with her divorced, severely alcoholic,
and frequently abusive mother. Cindy was never allowed to“There is vitality, a life
force, energy, a quickening
that is translated through
you into action and
because there is only one
of you all the time, this
expression is unique. And
if you block it, it will
never exist through any
other medium and will be
lost.”
Martha Graham22 E-Motion Picture Magic