I love your writing. So insightful, intelligent. Gabor Maté , a Canadian physician experienced with treating those with addictions and The Myth of Normal aligns very much with your essay. I was inspired to write Dissconnected here in my Substack based on this book.
I love his approach of “Compassionate enquiry”. It’s essential to understand our story and the wounds that have shaped us to become who we are today. We can then recognise what role they play in our lives and choose to let them go and write a new story. But until we do it will continue to be the same loop over and over. Wishing you a beautiful Sunday, Ann!
It's interesting to note that the heroin deaths and overall uptrend began with the introduction of digital heroin, with the iPhone coming out in 2010 with a front-facing camera (selfies), combined with the like button from Facebook. This combination created an epidemic of child, teen, and young adult mental illness, in my opinion.
Love, I have learned, is a verb and only very rarely a noun. One poet wrote about love’s lonely and austere offices. Love does things even it costs the giver everything.
Karen Blixen’s story, Babette’s Feast, is as close to a complete definition of love as one can find. The lover gives everything and the beloved isn’t required to give anything.
Thank you for taking the time to write this Jen. Until we take the time to go on this journey of self-discovery and understand our wounds, we will always move around the world feeling broken in some way. We build coping mechanisms to navigate the world in a way that minimises pain and improves our chances of receiving love and attention. However these behaviours formed unconsciously during childhood and we carry them into adult life presenting ourselves to the world as a collection of coping mechanisms instead of who we really are. Once we begin to strip back the layers we can live a more authentic, connected, and fulfilled life. Wishing everyone a wonderful week filled with love, joy, ease and peace 🙏🏽✌🏽
I loved this post. I especially resonated with what self-compassion is not and what real self-compassion is. You are so spot-on. It is definitely hard and extremely challenging to be with your suffering, but I agree it is the first step in healing. So many of us distract ourselves or try to pretend it is not there or that we can "get over it" or "move on" right over it. As I have many times found out in my life, that just doesn't work. Thank you for all the time you put into sharing your thoughts and insights. They are always thought-provoking and helpful. Hey........why don't you run for president? We can use someone with a good head on their shoulders and excellent emotional intelligence.
Thank you for raising the importance of the connection between emotional and physical pain. The evidence associated with trauma in childhood as a predictor of chronic pain continues to be demonstrated in the research:
The problems we face are always brought forth from a perversion of how we think we can acquire love. We try to find a hack for Love. Love isn’t easy. It requires patience and gentleness and forgiveness and obedience. Qualities so many of us, including myself, lack. True love, truthful love is all from God. Love is the answer Jen but not the forms of love that we so often seek that have self at their heart. Satan offers up all of perverse forms of love that we are so easily deceived by. The antidote is God. God is Love.
I love your writing. So insightful, intelligent. Gabor Maté , a Canadian physician experienced with treating those with addictions and The Myth of Normal aligns very much with your essay. I was inspired to write Dissconnected here in my Substack based on this book.
I love his approach of “Compassionate enquiry”. It’s essential to understand our story and the wounds that have shaped us to become who we are today. We can then recognise what role they play in our lives and choose to let them go and write a new story. But until we do it will continue to be the same loop over and over. Wishing you a beautiful Sunday, Ann!
It's interesting to note that the heroin deaths and overall uptrend began with the introduction of digital heroin, with the iPhone coming out in 2010 with a front-facing camera (selfies), combined with the like button from Facebook. This combination created an epidemic of child, teen, and young adult mental illness, in my opinion.
Insightful, engaging and educational. What’s more it landed in front of me with perfect timing. What a great account of self-compassion.
Yes! Me too. I love that about life and serendipity
Love, I have learned, is a verb and only very rarely a noun. One poet wrote about love’s lonely and austere offices. Love does things even it costs the giver everything.
Karen Blixen’s story, Babette’s Feast, is as close to a complete definition of love as one can find. The lover gives everything and the beloved isn’t required to give anything.
Love is the answer.
Wonderful, and precisely on point.
Love is the only way.
This is a great post, Jen! I loved every word. Thank you for sharing.
Hugs,
CJ
Thank you for taking the time to write this Jen. Until we take the time to go on this journey of self-discovery and understand our wounds, we will always move around the world feeling broken in some way. We build coping mechanisms to navigate the world in a way that minimises pain and improves our chances of receiving love and attention. However these behaviours formed unconsciously during childhood and we carry them into adult life presenting ourselves to the world as a collection of coping mechanisms instead of who we really are. Once we begin to strip back the layers we can live a more authentic, connected, and fulfilled life. Wishing everyone a wonderful week filled with love, joy, ease and peace 🙏🏽✌🏽
One thing that helps me makes sense of my emotions is to write it out. I wrote about one aspect of my journey with shame and abuse here: https://open.substack.com/pub/soulwisdom/p/sexual-abuse-my-story?r=a9uns&utm_medium=ios
Thank you. I will indeed. And you as well. I am in Nova Scotia , Canada and it is a rainy one.
It is raining here today in London, UK. Although most of the week it’s been sunny!
I loved this post. I especially resonated with what self-compassion is not and what real self-compassion is. You are so spot-on. It is definitely hard and extremely challenging to be with your suffering, but I agree it is the first step in healing. So many of us distract ourselves or try to pretend it is not there or that we can "get over it" or "move on" right over it. As I have many times found out in my life, that just doesn't work. Thank you for all the time you put into sharing your thoughts and insights. They are always thought-provoking and helpful. Hey........why don't you run for president? We can use someone with a good head on their shoulders and excellent emotional intelligence.
Beautiful, touching insightful piece. Thank you very much for this 🙏
🥹❤️
Thank you for raising the importance of the connection between emotional and physical pain. The evidence associated with trauma in childhood as a predictor of chronic pain continues to be demonstrated in the research:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/anuradhavaranasi/2023/12/26/childhood-trauma-linked-to-45-greater-risk-of-chronic-pain-in-adulthood/
A very helpful and insightful read. Jen.
Love can be a good medicine for the woes we face, both internal and external.
Thank you for penning this.
Fabulous!
The problems we face are always brought forth from a perversion of how we think we can acquire love. We try to find a hack for Love. Love isn’t easy. It requires patience and gentleness and forgiveness and obedience. Qualities so many of us, including myself, lack. True love, truthful love is all from God. Love is the answer Jen but not the forms of love that we so often seek that have self at their heart. Satan offers up all of perverse forms of love that we are so easily deceived by. The antidote is God. God is Love.