"Great Expectations"
with Gwyneth Paltrow
Viewed July 8, 2000
This video was all about relationships, and the questions reflect that. Since relationships are important to many of us (duh!), the questions (as well as the themes in the movie) brought up a lot of feelings for many of us who attended. The tears and anger about past relationships touched me. The highlight for me was when someone said that the way she has learned to evaluate relationships was by this simple yardstick: Am I expanding because of this relationship, or am I contracting?
Here are the questions:
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
- How and why have I sabotaged my loves? By intellectualizing? How else?
- How has my heart been broken, and how has my perception of that situation changed since then?
- What is it like for me when I am really understood by another person?
- How conscious or "present" am I in my relationships (romantic or otherwise)?
- How have I manipulated relationships? How have I felt manipulated?
- How can I stay in true love within myself and not abdicate this to share love with another?
- How do my sexual desires fuck with my pursuit of intimacy?
- What games do I play in relationships? What games MUST I play in relationships?
- In what ways am I seeking forgiveness or absolution?