Journal December 2025 Release - Flipbook - Page 51
49
story the person deems worthy of inhabiting in body and mind. A story
collectively supported by significant others in the person’s circle of affection, or,
in White’s words, in each one’s ‘association of life’ (2008).
Considering the art and craft of questioning, it demands disciplined practice. After
all, there are many types of questions, and each one opens different narratives
and reveals specific storylines. Within this frame, David Epston (1998) brought the
internalised-other question:
Such paradigmatic questions can inquire about anything but always
invite the respondent to answer from his or her experience of the
other’s experience. This has the effect of undermining cultural
practices that affirm an objective reality. (p. 68)
Through such questions, we invite the person to answer ‘as if’ they were a
significant other. This path grants us access to the beautifulness that lies in tríbio
time 8 (Freyre, 2001): that simultaneous interweaving of past-present-future into
the fabric of our narratives. In the tríbio time, we retrieve memories, update
stories, and anticipate narratives. By braiding the three moments of Life – tri-bio 9
– we can ‘say hullo again’ (White, 1989) and fashion a story that represents us,
honors significant people, and unveils our best. In tríbio time, we leave the known
and familiar behind and pursue an expanded version, something singular and
unique, our untested-feasibility (Freire, 1987).
Here, I introduce Sílvia, Ayla, and other important individuals I met. Then, we will
see the stories that were storylived when they engaged in conversations about
the internalised-other.
Catching a rise in a turquoise Vemaguet
Sílvia is a woman in her early fifties who is striving to rise above the end of an
abusive relationship. Her feelings conflict – at times tinged with nostalgia ("I feel
sorry for us"), at others anchored in the certainty that the ending was
providential. Amid this search for meaning, Sílvia mentions her paternal
8
Tribio as in latim: tri, for three, and bio, for life. Therefore, a time that encompasses simultaneously past, present,
and future.
9
Tri, from Latin: three; and Bio, from Latin: Life.
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
