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"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know." — Pema Chödrön

Over Moments: Making Sense of Life Through Patterns

With all of the therapy, writing, reading, reflection, and somatic work, a lot is coming up for me.

Memories.

Patterns.

Correlations that I had not previously made.

I am finding that this process is much less like the discovery of something new and much more like noticing something that has been there all along. I would describe it as so much stuff from the past lying in a tangled heap on a closet floor, too overwhelming to tackle or ignore. Slowly, I am making order of it, identifying items and events, and putting them in their places. The tangled mess shrinks, and the grip of it all is loosening.

I am also discovering that memory is a strange thing. I don’t trust every detail, every conversation, or every interpretation. But I do trust patterns, especially those that repeat themselves in what seems like perpetuity.

I am trying very hard to engage this with humility, admitting my blind spots. I recognize that other people have had different experiences and interpretations.

I can’t know intent or motivation, but only I can name the impact they have had on me.

Magda Gee

I am in a program of recovery for those whose lives have been affected by someone else's drinking, drug use, mental illness. I am newly learning faith, hope, and courage, practices not witnessed by me, in my childhood, with my family. Sadly, No Contact, as a last resort, is how I keep safe from diminishing words and actions directed at me. I think I have listened for the last time to how I deserve mistreatment. By holding out for something more wholesome and loving, I have been both banished and demanded to return. I prefer serenity to proximity. I will continue with my program and faith in the best possible outcome, so long as I do my part-- to stalk GOD as if my life depends on it.