With these Companions

This is a continuation of two previous newsletters at this time, and in this place.

We humans like threes. Three little pigs, three wishes, three kings, and... my personal morning ritual sings to the rhythm of three, bringing a satisfying sense of completion. I experience this every day in my spot in the woods, when I feel gratitude for being alive at this time 🕰, in this place 🏠and with these companions. 

I truly feel the companionship of the trees 🌲🌲around me, and all the woodland critters 🦌🐇and I know that their presence in my life supports an essential part of my particular sense of self. After the plant and animal kingdoms, I honor the extraordinary bounty of people in my life with whom I have learned from, grown with, are inspired by and have the honor of supporting through their cult recovery journey. 

I cannot count how many times I’ve stated, “people are wired for connection” or “we are a profoundly social species” or simply, “we need each other” since I began working as an educational consultant in the cult recovery world. One of my greatest passions is to support survivors to recognize how natural human traits are hijacked in cultic relationships - because when we truly understand this, self-compassion and the rebuilding of self-trust follows. 

Today, on the eve 💫of the most popular Christian holiday I invite you to take a moment and identify where you are in your own process, in your personal relationship to these holidays whether you celebrate or abhor them. Can you find tenderness towards yourself - for all you have grown through, even if you were violated by this religion? Is there some part of you that can celebrate the companions 🦌who have supported you best, and places where you find solace 🏝and breathe into a moment of loving life at this time? What is possible here? 

Today, I tip my hat to each one of you companions on my journey. THANK YOU for reading and for sharing your thoughts with me, week after week.