What's inside? A little HeartBalm.

Welcome friends,

This is a safe space:

• for self-care, healing, mindfulness, meditation, acceptance, compassion, courage, and bringing more self-love to your heart and your life.

• to join hands with kindred souls, and awaken your sensitive being back to its natural flow of love, peace, and allowing.

• to unfold in, find comfort and resolve, and find the places within you that may feel heavy, lost, or broken… but let me assure you that you are not broken - there is nothing to fix - only places within to befriend, love, and accept.

• to apply soothing and balm to your soul, your sometimes wavering heart, and the areas within that need your attention and healing light.

HeartBalm was born out of years of searching to fix what I thought was broken within me. I endured a difficult childhood and family life being bullied and neglected at the hands of those who should have loved me but did not seem to know how. I began an early quest to fix what I thought was broken in me so that I could be loved, accepted, and finally belong to my family. Children pick up the mantle of what they are taught: good, bad, or indifferent and place that upon themselves to sanction more of the same. Abuse and neglect are re-traumatizing aspects that cycle through generations until someone sees differently and says “enough!”

Knowing the truth and looking for safe spaces by expanding my intuitive abilities to know who and what to trust became my mission and practice of developing and protecting my already sensitive and vigilant self. My spiritual journey led me to Native American spirituality, quantum theory, alternative healing, and other ideologies and religions. I became a certified spiritual counselor (OMC) through A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and continued to study anything that might lead me to more understanding. I practiced meditation and mindfulness throughout my years of seeking, spent as much time in nature as possible - hiking and taking photos, and began trying to nurture my own sense of self-love. I finally began to understand what my mind had done to cope as a small child, and how lost I was in so many moments of my life because of these fractured parts. I saw that none of what had been projected on me as the horrible one, insignificant, less than, wrong, or bad was mine to hold – none of it was my fault – I was not broken – there was nothing to fix – only places within me that needed my attention and nurturing.

Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness. –Peter Levine

I feel called to share what I’ve learned: my research, experiences, understanding, and heart knowings, miracles that have touched me along the way, living life as authentically and unapologetically as possible, and sharing the simple truth of healing in a complex and uncertain world. I am here to help calm the wild heart, quiet the mind, hold your hand, and mirror for you the grace, beauty, and pure light that you are.

This is not a quick fix – this is a process towards a more open, expanded heart, a more conscious self, and softening to what’s here to strengthen your ability to hold yourself in your own light, and in the love of your sweet self. Thus allowing the expanded consciousness of yourself to shine not only for you but for all that you love and for the world.

So I ask you sweet one – put down your books and worries, leave the fix-me list on the side table and sit with me for a moment. Give me your hand and join me as we hold the space for your enduring heart, your capacity to love and forgive yourself, and feel the wholeness and depth of your exquisite being.

The Truth of the Blossom

Silently a flower blooms,
in silence, it falls away;
yet here now, at this moment, at this place,
the world of the flower, the whole of the world is blooming.
This is the talk of the flower,
the truth of the blossom;
the glory of eternal life is fully shining here.
-Zenkei Shibayama, Zen Master

This newsletter will explore myriad topics including spirituality, mindfulness, self-love, embodiment and somatic practices, complex trauma (Cptsd) and other disorders relative to childhood trauma and abuse, forgiveness, breathing techniques, sound healing, quantum physics/energy (et al) role in healing work, and some of my favorite things: art, photography, hiking, wildflowers, and the natural world.

HeartBalm is a free weekly newsletter along with poetry, nature tidbits, other musings, and Q&A opportunities to come. If you love it, subscribe here to receive future posts in your inbox or consider supporting it financially with a monthly, or annual member subscription. The work I create and offer here is reader-supported and therefore ad-free. Thank you kindred spirits - I love that you are joining me on this beautiful journey and am grateful for your presence and being <3