exercise · all tools
Anonymous Confessions
Everyone writes down something they have never told anyone, or rarely share; the slips go into a basket; each person draws one and reads it to the circle as if it were their own, embodying it, and passes the basket on. Anyone who draws their own may reveal that or not. The manual's warning is its own: this can get heavy quickly — take space and breathe between confessions.
- A written secret may disclose harm — to the writer or by them — and the manual says nothing about what the facilitator does then; have an answer before the basket goes round
- Anonymity is the safety design and the reason trust can be lower than the depth suggests; it fails the moment anyone speculates aloud about authorship
Practical
- Time
- 15-20 min
- Group
- 6–∞ · large-group
- Settings
- in-person
- Materials
- Slips of paper, pens, a hat or basket
- Mechanisms
- narrative-identity, emotional-processing, ritual-container, perspective-taking
- Change scope
- state → skill · repeatable
Instructions
- Where
- authrev.org/ar-games-manual — Authentic Relating Games Manual, paid
- Availability
- In the source document — the instructions live inside the material linked, on its terms
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0 (Authentic Relating Games Manual)
Source link checked 31 Aug 2026 — unchanged since we recorded it on 29 Aug 2026
This directory describes and points home; the instructions stay with the people who made them.
Origin
Developed by an Authentic Leadership Training group in Austin — Authentic Relating (Authentic Relating Games Manual, 2025 edition)
In this directory via Authentic Relating Games Manual
status: checked · added 2026-08-31