Tag: childhood trauma

  • Finding Hope Amidst Chaos: A Personal Journey

    It is I Who Must BeginIt is I who must begin.Once I begin, once I try –here and now,right where I am,not excusing myselfby saying thingswould be easier elsewhere,without grand speeches andostentatious gestures,but all the more persistently–to live in harmonywith the “voice of Being,” as Iunderstand it within myself–as soon as I begin that,I suddenly…

  • What If I’d Driven Away? Learning Self-Compassion When You Can’t Forgive Your Own Choices

    What if one different choice could have changed everything? Through the lens of a moment sitting outside a church in a minivan, this post explores what it really means to stop punishing yourself, listen to the parts of you that are exhausted, and discover that self-compassion — not self-criticism — is the only way forward.…

  • When Pain Has No Place to Land

    Maybe you grew up knowing instinctively that your pain wasn’t safe to share. That if you brought your scraped knees and bruised hearts to your caregivers, somehow you’d end up taking care of them instead. It wasn’t your job to absorb someone else’s volcanic grief. It never was. You can care without carrying it.

  • Are You Running on Fear?

    Our nervous systems are wired to keep us alive, not to keep us happy. They’re incredibly good at detecting danger, but terrible at telling the difference between real threats and false alarms. That rustling in the bushes could be a bear or it could be a squirrel. Your nervous system doesn’t care—it just screams ‘RUN!'”

  • Understanding Fawning: Breaking Cycles of Survival-Based Relationships

    Unlike fight, flight, or freeze responses that happen in the moment, fawning is different—it’s a survival pattern learned over time. Dr. Mary Catherine MacDonald explains how this trauma response develops through repeated experiences, creating adults who struggle to simply exist in relationships without constantly scanning for others’ needs. But understanding fawning is the first step…

  • The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Finding Truth Beyond Collective Narratives

    We tell ourselves stories in order to live,” Joan Didion wrote. But what happens when those shared stories—our collective narratives—become barriers to the very connection they promise to create? Growing up with parents whose lives were like apple carts filled to capacity, I learned early how fragile our shared stories can be. One uncomfortable truth…

  • When Authority Becomes the Enemy of Truth

    “Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth.” — Albert EinsteinThe ambulance lights cut through the darkness at the convenience store. Someone had played Russian roulette and lost. As I drove past that night, seventeen and heartbroken after my boyfriend left me for my best friend, I looked up at the empty sky…

  • Breaking Free from Sexual Shame: A Journey of Ancestral Healing

    A personal story of healing from sexual addiction, religious trauma, and generational shame through ancestral wisdom and authentic spirituality.