R&R For The Soul

A recap of a week of continued growth as a domestic violence survivor.

I’ve decided to start spending Sunday as a day of rest. I’m not doing it in honor of anyone or anything, I’m doing it because my body requires it and I want to honor my body’s needs. So this morning I spent some time floating around various social media outlets and noticed that there’s so much education that needs to happen in the world today. Not only have I encountered posts sharing that people don’t realize just how much domestic abuse happens by police officers (40% of officers last year alone were involved in domestic violence) but I’ve also seen people calling Buddhism a religion which it is not (Buddha emphasized this in the dharma).

I’m not sure why I’m starting to notice things like this but it could possibly be due to the journey I myself am on. This week I started really digging deep into my intuition and seeing what’s happening within myself thanks to help from a workbook entitled The Shadow Work Journal and Workbook (Tarot Edition): Heal your past experienced trauma & live a balanced life and I’ve started learning a lot of things. I’ve also started following my intuition more and it’s proving strong and right. For instance, yesterday at the dog park my son was getting out of the car and I felt the need to tell him to leave the windows down a bit. No sooner had he gotten out of the car and shut the door did 2 unleashed dogs come running towards our car. I believe that if I hadn’t followed my intuition here the dogs would’ve tried to get in my car with my dogs and who knows what could’ve happened. This is just one of the things that happened this week.

Another thing that happened showed me just how far I’ve come in my journey towards healing. We were at another dog park (this is a common hangout for us since my service dog is both German Shepherd and foxhound hence needing lots of time to run) when I overheard someone say something about us that I wasn’t meant to hear. In the past I would’ve immediately started a fight with this person but this time I just let it go and breathed right through it.

This is also the week I was finally brave enough to end therapy. I’ve been in therapy since the COVID lockdown (March 2020 so about 4 years). During this time I’ve had a variety of therapists, some good some not so good, all who’ve taught me something along the way. These things have added up and helped me grow stronger. They’ve also helped me find my way to Buddhism whose practices are a great source of strength for me. They allow me to do my work as a relationship coach today without dwelling in the past and the hurt it brought into my life. In fact, Buddhism reminds me that without this hurt I wouldn’t know the happiness that I enjoy today.

So, for me this has been a week of growing. While I’m happy with who I’ve become, I’m also looking forward to the person I’ll continue to become. As always, I don’t write these things to brag but to let you know that there is life after traumatic relationships have ended. You’re a person who can heal, a person who can grow into someone you love. I encourage you to step out of harmful relationships and fly but don’t just fly, soar. You can do it. I believe in you even though you might not believe in yourself right now.

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