Journal December 2025 Release - Flipbook - Page 48
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each culture, and the diversity of every corner of the world. In Freirean terms,
may it always be an experience of beautifulness.
These reflections brought up some questions. What is new, creative, and
interesting in our daily practice? How much Duende, spirit of adventure, and fairy
dust 5 are we putting into our sessions? How are we bringing our soul, our way of
being, our uniqueness into action in each therapeutic encounter? How are we
contributing to the stories to reveal every lived experience’s beautifulness? These
are questions that have resonated within me ever since I translated David
Epston’s paper (2019) – and they have guided my steps throughout my current
journey in narrative therapy.
In 2020, I began the Artistry of Narrative Therapy course with Tom Carlson, Kay
Ingamells, and David Epston. The course’s proposal is continuous learning about
the art of asking questions within the context of narrative therapy; after all,
questioning requires focus, dedication, and practice. Michael would say,
“practice, practice, practice” (Epston, 2016, p. 85). During one of the meetings,
David asked us to share our experience with the apprenticeship. I mentioned my
amazement with the effects both the consultants and I noticed every time the
conversation was guided by internalised-other questions (Epston, 1998). He
listened carefully to my most recent experience: a special moving conversation
with a woman’s internalised grandfather. At the end, she told me she would keep
this conversation in a sacred place inside her, so that it could be remembered
forever and ever. When I finished telling the story, David asked me if I had written
it down, for a conversation that ended with someone saying it will be kept forever
in one’s memory is something that deserves to be honored.
I perceived the beautifulness of that idea and decided to go a little further: I asked
this person to write what she remembered of that moment. And I did the same
with another person who also had a similar experience. This paper is about those
stories and my thoughts about them.
5
In Brasil there is a special fairy dust named Pirlimpimpim dust. It’s a quintessentially Brazilian magical element,
created by Monteiro Lobato in the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo books, and it is as a make-believe trigger.
Narractivating Conversations with the Internalised-Other: A Therapy with a Little Bit of Fairy Dust.
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, December 2025 Release, p. 45-65.
www.journalnft.com
