I just turned in the grades for the four English classes I have taught this spring at the College of Alameda. It’s a great feeling. I’ve done my best and learned a lot. Now, I’m retired, turning a page. Here’s a recent journal entry dated May 21 that speaks to where I am spiritually and… Continue Reading
Wind
I was walking late night, the breeze lifting my hair, lifting my hair from my forehead. I was walking late night, the breeze lifting a weight from my shoulders. A weight was carried for me. I was cared about by the wind, talking to me in the trees, the trees, tall black silhouettes, held air… Continue Reading
2 poems
Post PTS Me Will the real me please stand up! No, not that hypervigilant rabbit. The real Wendy No, not that self-effacing nobody. The real Wendy Not the one who reaches out to others in learned helplessness. Where is Wendy free of trauma? Is there such a one? Can I ever truly know me, sans… Continue Reading
To Form a Question
Sometimes, in order to ask a question one needs vocabulary–amygdala, neurobiology, the biochemistry of trauma–phrases that position tongue in mouth. Sometimes, exposure to an idea must be repeated before one can edge to the lip of the platform and sail off into the water below. Again and again, we step to the ledge, pause, wait,… Continue Reading
After Meditation, My Body Speaks a Poem
Do not be afraid of me. I am your body, your smell. I soothe you. Come close, inhale, comfort yourself. Do not be afraid. Not like your mother who would not bury her face in your baby belly, afraid you’d pop and go dead. Let love press its face into your gut, your… Continue Reading
Self-talk: Own It!
It is so important to monitor what we tell ourselves if we care about how we feel. At any point, we can change negative self-talk and bring happiness to our experience. Here’s a recent example of this process in my own life, as I continue to heal from a head injury I sustained last spring,… Continue Reading
Our "Fourth Quadrant"
Two weeks ago, I attended a storytelling workshop, Retracing Our Steps (But I forgot the bread crumbs), given by Dr. Hetty Rodenburg, a medical doctor from New Zealand. Her own personal story was one of the most moving and inspirational stories that she shared that day. Years ago, she had signed up for a workshop… Continue Reading
A Poem to Uplift
LIFT UP YOUR BANNER by John Fox ©1984 Such a banner is for the greatness of wildflowers kissing their way delicately through glaciers, for the beauty of the mountaintop from which your soul undoubtedly has gazed. The next step you take shall bring you home if you but release your cares and think instead that… Continue Reading
How beautiful you are
How Beautiful You Are Do you love your soul? Have you talked to it lately? What does it say? Do you love your inner voice? How does it sound, and what feeling does it convey? Have you felt joy in re-union? Are you walking as one now? Are you an undivided self? Are you a… Continue Reading
Steps to Take on the Path to Ease and Joy
How can survivors of infant surgery and/or invasive medical procedures performed without anesthesia begin to move away from a lifetime of re-enacting symptoms of trauma and move toward a lifetime of experiencing health, fulfillment, and joy? How can we get our pain, anger, and confusion out so that we can feel peace, clarity, and compassion?… Continue Reading