But I know they're out there somewhere
And the knowin' keeps me sweet
Today, let's talk about the reality of trauma and it's dark long shadow that it casts upon us. We who are still struggling as we learn everyday to walk with it, breathe with it, live with it and just trying to survive with it.
I mean I don't have the cure for it or anything, but I know how painful it is. So painful, layer by layer of pain, waves of bitterness, of holding your strength in front of trauma as it replays in your mind, of denial because of pain, of wanting to run away and escape from it ~ seemingly the only sane course to follow because who wants to be exposed to trauma 24/7?
That's why we create masks, that's why we run away, that's why we hide and why we escape, because it is the only way to keep it from overwhelming us and from totally devouring us. We create an escape universe, we create a different world where we can exist devoid of the fears and demons of our trauma.
It is not bad, actually because we all need to cope right? But what is bad is that we delude ourselves that we can run away from it, that if we bury it, it will just die and it will leave us alone. No, it doesn't work that way. Eventually, it will come out of the deepest pit, haunting us, confronting us, cornering us until we are face to face with it again. We are now being asked, are we going to run again or are we going to finally face it?
This is the life cycle of trauma, it can be as old as our life. Some people are so sensitive that trauma even started from the womb, they felt it right away. Some trauma started as early as childhood, conditioning from our primary caregivers, abuse or mishandling from them, manipulations and subtle controls. Those trauma that are as old as us, existing with us even from infancy, even from childhood when most of our basic senses and knowledge began developing.
So yes, I guess the only real way to face our trauma is to finally find peace within ourselves that this time I am fully resolved and whole-heartedly committed to sort out my baggage and my issues, I may not know how to handle the pain all the time but I am open to it and I am not running away from it. Building sustainable routines, methods and resolutions can help us to go on with small steps into the right path of recovery.
There are ways and outlets to cope with our trauma, like music, art, being with people who has gone through the same pains and fears, writing or doing volunteer work for the benefit of other people who need assistance.
There will be bad days, there will be down days, dark days and even time when we just want to abandon the path of healing our trauma, but I pray even for myself that we stay committed and fully resolved to our decision. In our path to healing, we really touch others lives in very meaningful ways. We really can open wonderful affinities with a lot of people who are also finding or following their path to healing. Just open our hearts, not just our eyes, they are around us. They are also like fireflies trying to lit up the darkness. A group of fireflies can really light up a considerable amount of space and they even emit some warmth that can touch many hearts.
I really wish we find the undying flame of our faith within ourselves and the deep well of our hope, it is all within us, to heal, to recover and help others in their path to healing too.
So, how do we know it is time to move on?
***
Okay, how many times did people read it, but really I am tired of being in the house for so long, I want to go somewhere far and somewhere new with my friends
So, I came up with some possible excuse when I file for that hard earned vacation break
SAWA NA SA PANDEMIC, MAMUMUNDOK
or
HANAPIN NIYO NA LANG AKONG PALUTANG-LUTANG SA DAGAT
or
GUNAW is for real, I am tired of surviving it every single day
or
Seriously, we are still here?!
or
JUST BYE!
List of things running through my head
(1) I am definitely going to reconsider my definition of time, how to measure time
(2) Definitely will dedicate my time into healing my soul and my heart
(3) I will still make an adulting kit, although I am waiting for my brain fog to just finally subside, this is definitely a personal project
(4) Really feeling deeply about how are people coping in these trying times, mental health is something we tend to overlook; If we don't begin to honestly reflect on our situation right now, we are really heading for another crisis.
(5) Sometimes life brings you the most painful experiences and it gives you the most wonderful experiences, I hope we all finally learn to reach out with genuine care and concern to people we love and cherish
to be updated . . .
I am at a loss for words
Definitely, lost, like my mind, for who knows how long
I don't know how long it will take for us to march through this wave of darkness, maybe 15 days, maybe 40 days, maybe 365 days, maybe years, maybe decades ~
I am not sure anymore
But yes, we have cracked a new dawn, I believe. However, the new life/new dawn doesn't necessarily equal to happiness, unfortunately it looks actually the opposite, I just want to stay inside my bedroom and be in the dark and wait for the world to just implode or for me to just disappear.
~
Yet, it feels easier to give up and not look forward to any day,
I remember my beloved teacher, she always reminds me/her disciples the following words of wisdom:
Take an inventory of your life, look back at your accomplishments and what you have done in the past, no matter how little it is or how big it is, the point is to make an inventory.
This is a grand lesson that we are learning right now, we have to hold on and keep the faith.
Stay connected to your source. Keep our heart and mind healthy.
I am grateful to my teacher every single day.
~
Although, it is so hard to find our footing in this endless darkness and shifting ground, let's be grateful for each moment that we are here.
We are given these challenges because we can cope and can thrive and flourish.
Keep surviving.
We are being helped by our guides and teachers, we are not alone.
You are not alone.
I have been really adamant to write because my writing would be tainted with so much pain, dark moods, sadness, grief and impossibly deep emotions that I can't even start to put down into words.
Somehow, in this bleak gloomy world, I don't want to add the same blood-dark tinted words to further lay waste in the collective glum of existence.
So, I kept my silence.
But this morning, I read some very assuring words from someone in the news, it goes a bit like this:
The beginning of the end of this madness has finally come.
And I believed it.
Finally.
Finally.
Finally.
It was a terrible underworld journey but we are still here, walking boldly, carrying our lives and our loved ones with us, fully trusting in the crack of light as we await the new dawn.
The 'death' journey for me this past week was beyond words, it was a deeper kind of purification, something I am prepared for since it happens cyclically to me, but it was something new as well. I wish I could put them in words, but words elude me.
Let me try:
It was a noisy sleep.
Noisy darkness.
The kind where you wish your brain just melts and disappears because you are haunted by so many worries, insecurities, questions, etc (maybe that's why there are dead people who have unfinished business?)
But it is more of a curse when you wake up and you have a vivid memory of the darkness and your death. You wake up and sh*t, you are still alive, though death would be kinder.
It is so easy to lose hope, lose humanness, lose yourself, lose faith, but I cannot and I do not.
I am tired of 'dying' it is not a good experience, it is something you want to forget after sleeping for two or three days straight, but you won't forget it. It is in every breath you take. It is like a dream that will haunt you, it can't let you go though you want to let it go badly.
But of course, after death, there's regeneration, rebirth, renewal.
Start from scratch again,
start again with baby steps
start again
start.