Earlier today I was out and about, noticing people as I do, watching their interactions, hearing what they say, how they interact, how their energy 'feels' to me.
There was a couple with a girl, around six perhaps, who was acting in a stressed-out way, her voice strained and high pitched, her words insistent and full of anxiety, her manner like someone who's deeply uncomfortable in her body.
I noticed her mum, quiet, unassuming, but I couldn't hear her speak to the girl, she was responding in a very quiet voice whilst her child, I assumed, talked incessantly to her, or at her, it didn't seem to matter which.
Her father, I also assumed, was equally quiet, ordering some food, chatting to the staff, whilst downing a bottle of cola; apparently he was on his way to work, perhaps he needed something to take the edge off, caffeine is good for that, and is quite acceptable in society.
The moment that stuck out for me in all of this, after all, we can't really make sweeping judgments on the basis of a couple of minutes, was when the little girl, cried, 'I'll be good, I'll be good,' over and over as if this was the only thing that mattered, as if this was the deciding factor in getting what she wanted, or felt she wanted, when we are small the difference is hard to determine.
And it wasn't so much the repetition of the phrase, but the almost possessed way she said it, and the driven way she spoke all throughout the time I was a witness, clearly agitated and desperate for something, perhaps her parents real focus, their presence, their attention.
I can't say for sure what the family dynamic was, or is, but I really felt for that little girl, almost crying out in the wilderness of her reality to be heard, to be noticed.
We all need unconditional presence when we are babies and children, anything less creates a need in a child that can drive them to attempt to fill the space where it should have been.
Filling that space can lead us onto myriad paths; some look like success, others failure, some look like achievements and others loss.
When we look within or acknowledge pain in our bodies, we can be led back to our woundings, both physical and emotional, and find ways in which to heal, to come to terms with, to accept, and to work with in greater harmony than before.
The work I do now has evolved from the very strong physical treatments that I used to give, through Reiki and spirituality, through voluntary gifting and community, into the trauma-informed treatments I now give,
and always, something at the core of me, my own healing.
I offer a depth and breadth of work that I would not have envisaged had it not been for the journey my soul has taken me on.
Recognising the struggle within and seeing it all around, can lead to a deep compassion for humanity, and a lifetime of learning and seeking.
This is truly, 'healing for life'!