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Coming Home to Yourself
The concept of home is one that is over-romanticized, over-marketed, and even a source of competition. I am not dismissing the need for shelter, quite the contrary. And I love creating a sanctuary from the world and its pressures. But the coziest home ever, following al the best hygge practices will only feel as safe as our own heart. One of our favorite things to decry about today’s society is our endless methods of escaping our external realities. I love to read. Sometimes I binge British television. Sugar and sleep are favorites too. And sometimes I just go blank. The fiction is that we are trying to escape some external…
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From Trauma Bond to Freedom: Our Family’s Journey
During a conversation about the trauma bond with my oldest, she challenged me to write a post that dealt honestly with the difficult journey my four daughters and I took from years of abuse to a healthy and loving blended family unit. The original trauma bond belonged to me and my ex-husband. For reference, a trauma bond is a seemingly iron-clad tie between an abuser and his or her victim. The result of the cycles of abuse that revolve around reward and punishment, the trauma bond has the same psychological effect as a trap has on the leg of a wild animal. Lured by the promise of something good, we…
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Humility: The Six Hidden Joys
Humility is a hard sell these days. Actually, it’s never been on anyone’s top ten list of fun character traits to develop. But pride is the enemy of all happiness, I believe. By pride, I don’t mean self-esteem. The confusing of the two to the detriment of both is a popular topic for women’s faith blogs, but holding oneself as precious in the eyes of the Lord is necessary to holding other people precious as well. Pride, unlike self-esteem, has a chilly heart. The problem with pride is that it needs to be constantly sustained at the expense of others. The art of comparing ourselves with others assumes that we…
Healing Through Art & Words
