Trust Counts

An excerpt from Chapter 16
Grandfather Will’s Helicopter Invention—Inspiration, Failure, Shame and Recovery and Risking Inventiveness in the Generations
In January 1996, when visiting my son and his family in Colorado, I decided to take a day and drive to Goodland, Kansas, where Grandfather Will Purvis and a machinist colleague, Charles Wilson, had invented a helicopter between 1909 and 1910. Through family lore, I had heard of their invention. I knew that it was the first patented helicopter in the United States. I knew that my grandfather had stopped working on the invention, but I had no details of what might have gone wrong or his reasons for quitting. I knew of the museum in Goodland that housed a reconstructed model of the helicopter, but to my knowledge no family member had ever been to the museum. I remembered one story of the invention told by Uncle Ed who was five at the time. He remembered that Army brass had come to observe a test of the flying machine and that it had risen from the ground. To a kid of five, seeing the medals on their uniforms was exciting and memorable. Knowing that the United States military was interested in Grandfather’s design certainly impressed me.
This adventure was part of my pursuit of healing. I was focused on honoring my grandfather’s inventiveness and searching to understand why he gave up on his dream of building a flying machine. Thinking from the perspective of generational inheritance, I wondered if my tendency to give up on creative projects and my lack of confidence in the value of my ideas was somehow related to his giving up on his invention. Did I somehow carry the burden of his loss of confidence? What happened to him and his idea?

An excerpt from Healing Seven Generations
Chapter 1: How this Book Came to be and What You Will Find in it
Wounds are passed forward down the generations. So are blessings. This book is about my journey to heal wounds passed forward to me and through me to my children, and to honor blessings passed forward, received by me, and passed forward to my children. Wounds and blessings reflect relationships. They are the consequence of what happens between us. My journey is a journey of revitalizing and reconciling relationships, honoring, and activating blessings, giving voice to those formerly silent, searching the vulnerabilities behind hurtful voices and forgiving, freeing creative love, now, for those who have been, are, and will be.
Through my ancestor’s writings and letters and genealogical data, I have had the good fortune to hear my ancestors’ voices. I have been able to imagine what was real for them, what they cared about and held most dear, what they suffered and how they survived, and what they left unsaid and undone. I hear the echo of their lives in mine as their values play out through me and as I work to heal wounds passed forward and to recast beliefs that constrain life and limit intimate exchange.
As these ancestors have come alive in my imagination, I have been amazed by the liveliness of feeling their presence within me. I feel their gratitude for my eagerness to know them, encouraging me to repair the consequences of their misdeeds and helping me draw life from the good they’ve passed forward. I experience my ancestors urging me to act on their behalf, to do what they left undone.

An excerpt from:
Chapter 1: How this Book Came to be and What You Will Find in it
Over my lifetime I have learned that everyone matters. Every voice counts. Every person is a unique gift to humankind, and therefore deserves to be cared for and to develop because s/he is needed by all of us. Life is sustained through connection, through relationship. The energy of life is love. Healing frees creative encounters. Meeting with you, when safe, open, receptive, fair, and mutual, sparks life. I need you. You need me. Part of me is waiting to be brought to life by you and you by me. Safe intimate encounters are spontaneous, unpredictable, lifegiving, and healing.

What I want to accomplish through this book:

• To record my healing process and experiences.

• To leave this record to my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and to all the others who will come after me.

• To pass forward my understanding of the emotional and spiritual healing that comes through repairing relationships, especially family relationships.

• To convey that much of my own healing and strengthening has occurred as I have become conscious of the generational roots of my wounds and strengths, learning to appreciate the experiences of previous generations of our family.

Where did my urge to do what I can to right wrongs come from? Might this have been nurtured by inner urgings from my ancestors all along? It certainly expresses the further development of the values they taught me.

I want to take readers on my journey of healing, to share what I have experienced and learned.
My hope is that engaging my journey will open horizons for my readers, in their families, friendships and communities.

Healing Seven Generations: A Multigenerational Memoir 2024
by Douglas W Schoeninger

Link to Amazon: https://a.co/d/0H1l6ef

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The impetus for my multigenerational healing journey began when I slid into a deep depression in 1971 at the age of 32. The inspiration for this book came to me in July 2017 as I was standing with my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Schwabisch-Hall, Germany, at the address where my paternal great-grandparents had lived, and where my paternal grandfather was born and raised. My story is about family roots of my depression and family resources for healing. I unearthed burdens and blessings passed generation to generation in my father's and mother's lineages that were consequential in my life and the lives of my siblings and offspring. I set about revitalizing and reconciling relationships by honoring and activating blessings passed forward, giving voice to those formerly silent, searching the vulnerabilities behind hurtful actions and deprivations, and forgiving, freeing creative love, now, for those who have been, are and will be. Douglas W. Schoeninger, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist, licensed in Pennsylvania, and practicing in Coatesville, PA, USA. He integrates spirituality, attunement to the Holy Spirit, and prayer as healing resources within a Contextual Therapy perspective. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a PhD in clinical psychology in 1965. He trained in Client Centered Therapy with Carl Rogers, and Contextual Therapy with Ivan Boszormenyi-Nagy and Barbara Krasner. He is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the Pennsylvania Psychological Association (PPA) and the Association of Christian Therapists (now called ACTheals). He is the father of two, grandfather of four and great-grandfather of two.

Healing Seven Generations: A Multigenerational Memoir The impetus for my multigenerational healing journey began when I slid into a deep depression in 1971 at the age of 32. The inspiration for this book came to me in July 2017 as I was standing with my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Schwabisch-Hall, Germany, at the address where...

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