One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice--
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do--
determined to save
the only life you could save.
written by Mary Oliver
I’ve helped people:
Learn Self Compassion
Forgive themselves
Find self-acceptance
Discover they had ACOA-dysfunctional parent syndrome
Adult Children of Alcoholics
Learn to live after addiction
Forgive their parents (not necessarily trust them though)
Help parents take responsibility for their own issues in their children’s lives
Forgive their (often adult) children
Heal shame
Overcome regrets
Overcome depression and anxiety
Discover and recover from codependency problems
Learn to love and be loved
Build friendships
Embrace their calling vs. leaning on financial security
Find their passion
Understand food, media and gaming as attachment and competency substitutes
Helping to bring balance to their lives.
Develop their spirituality, understand their deeper values, reprioritize their lives
Develop goals for achievement in harmony with their deepest values
When our hearts are struggling with the pains of life, transitioning from younger to older, letting relationships evolve or attempting to turn aloneness into solitude, any of the infinite ways Reality allows suffering to do some mysterious work - it’s good to talk with friends, family and a counselor who’s had a journey of his own, and will admit he doesn’t know everything but would honor your journey by at least being with you and suggest that there is a meaning here that together we could reach for and in that - you would find comfort in a deeper understanding and joy in a maturing soul.