The holiday season sometimes brings triggers. Traumas of emotion that follow year after year, gripping you into an endless loop of self-negative thoughts.
How do you manage them?
Your advice may be the perfect perspective for someone else.
Share your advice with us.
If you'll forgive all the personal talk for the first few paragraphs, I will do my best to conclude with relevant and meaningful counsel.
Almost a year ago to the day, my mother disowned me for speaking out against public expressions of abuse from her husband, my stepfather.
My biological father, who was self medicating heavily before a surgery to fuse his neck, falsely accused me of stealing from my family and threatened to break my knee caps before he stabilized. The latter I've written off as a soul at their worst in great pain. My mother is in a final downward spiral and won't return my communications. My step-siblings told me her drinking and drug use has gotten so bad, this last Thanksgiving, in her mid- seventies, she collapsed on the floor and swore at anyone who tried to help her up. All this has been on my mind in this season of families.
There's other things that crop around this time, like the holidays during the two years I spent homeless in Seattle. This season, I know what it means to be alone.
We all have our sob-stories, and those that we would pity have no use for it. You can't use feelings to feed yourself or keep from freezing.
So, having been at the lowest lows, what can I share with you to help find Light that at times can be so elusive?
Love, care, and the fire of passion can light even the darkest nights.
We are all here, whether or not it was a choice, let us make the best of it.
When I was alone sleeping in Seattle parks, I still saw lush moss and trees with eager roots that made me sing and weep.
When I had no family in Texas that would take me in at Yuletide, friends I'd given my heart to gave the same to me.
Love readily and boldly. As the world darkens, brighten it with the force of love from your own heart.
The most radical action possible in our age is to give heart, to insist that light can still be found. If you find yourself alone, there are still two communities to celebrate: that of Nature and that of all the souls so bold as to still have hope.
You are not alone.
Being the observer as the triggers arise and noticing how your body and mind react. Taking a beat to decide how you would like to respond instead of immediately falling into the same pattern as you have in the past. Give yourself grace and stay open and curious.
Focusing on ancestors and important memories. And sharing those memories.
Lots of journaling, therapy, energy clearing, and connecting with my guides.