I experienced the blood without feeling
Without feeling the wound
To heal the wound
I must feel the pain
Then do the work
To clean it away
There is no healing
Without feeling
-gws
Wounds
Tag: Recovery
Stranger
Trying to figure out
who this version of me is
She feels like a stranger,
but I think I might end up
liking her
-gws
Ritual
I have coated my boundaries in sacred salt
Saged the walls of my mind
Served healing teas to my soul
Soaked my dreams in moon water
Calmed my spirits with lavender sachets
I have removed the “welcome” mat from my doorstep
Hung a horseshoe above my threshold
Covered my aura in layers of steel
Cut the cord with silver shears
All to reclaim myself from you
-gws
She’s Not Beautiful
She’s not beautiful
She’s a bloodied beast
A bold, brassy, badass
Bravely battling brash bandits
Bone-weary from the bullshit
Burdened and burnt out
Building a budding new self
Walking away from brutality
Becoming balanced
Banishing bad habits from her bones
Barefoot upon the earth and beaming
Beginning a brand new bountiful life
-gws
Healing
The road to healing
Is long and winding
I must follow it
One step
One breath
At a time
-gws
Unfolding
I used to try to force my day to unfold according to my will.
Now, I try to allow the will of the day to unfold me.
-gws
Whole Again
I’m learning how to experience joy without
my broken heart fearing that the experience will be taken from me before I can feel it fully
To feel the elation without it immediately triggering tears of mourning
It’s difficult and beautiful learning how to become whole again
-gws
Strong Alone
I read, “and in the end, all I learned was how to be strong alone.”
I disagree.
In the end, I have learned that living a kind and authentic life earns you connections with good people with big hearts who are willing to catch and hold you when you fall.
Strength cannot exist without vulnerability. You only have to be alone if you choose to shut the world out.
Be willing to be vulnerable.
Be willing to ask for help.
Be more willing to receive help.
Build a loving village.
You don’t have to be alone to be strong.
Being alone is a choice, not a consequence.
-gws
I Want
I want to live in a cabin between the woods and the sea
I want to smell mossy earth and pine resin at daybreak
Wood smoke and salt air at sunset
I want to be surrounded by books and filtered sunlight
Candles, blank pages, and moonlight
I want to walk with hopes by day
And dance with dreams by night
I want to watch banana slugs explore my garden
I want to hear the chorus of crashing waves
Gulls crying exultantly from the sky
Wind playing chase through the cypress boughs
I want to be free of the chains of expectations
Free of the weight of the looming other shoe
I wish not to drink from any more bitter cups
Fall on any more swords
Remove twisted daggers from my back
I crave peace
Beauty
Lightness
Hope
Creativity
Freedom
I crave relationships that are mutually supportive
That nurture souls
That transact in honesty
Respectfulness
Genuineness
Ease
Love
-gws
Generational Trauma
Do onto others as you wish to be done onto
This is the call
Cast off the shackles of
Abuse
Neglect
Mistreatment
Harm
The scars that mar your ancestors
The scars that mar you
The greatest gift given in life
Free will
Wield it like a craftsman
Hold it like a pen and
Rewrite your story
Erase the patterns from your pages
Show your children that you
Can reshape the stars in the sky
Show them how to heal in the light of the moon
And the bright beacon of day
No future is written in stone
No fate inevitable
Let it begin here
By deciding the pain of the past
Ends here
-gws
Words Wishes and Wisdom 