More about trauma work

I found these images on www.unsplash.com – so I assume they are from Newfoundland. I couldn’t find any images of Tuckamore trees I could legally include here except a dead tree from wikepedia (I think it’s relevant because it’s what happens to some of use, through substance abuse, over doses, suicide, prostitution and more,) but you can search on google images and find them. 

Tuckamore trees are simply evergreen tree seeds that when landed in groves grow straight and tall as they were intended. But because of the conditions of Newfoundland, often times these seeds find themselves planted on the edge of cliffs, exposed to raging storms, and harsh, unrelenting, icy winds. 

They dig their roots into the ground and bear the salty, harsh winds that come in from the ocean. They bend and give and broken branches are found, littered around the trees. 

The imagery I have about trauma is that we grow where we’re planted. So you being here today means that you stayed; you dug your roots into the stony ground, some of you sustained yourselves on the barest of essentials, pummeled by salty, frigid winds, clinging to the sides of cliffs. AND, you are here today. 

I invite you to consider this, what stops you from digging yourself up and replanting yourself in the grove where you were intended to grow?

And can we not marvel at how inventive, creative, and tenacious you were to be HERE today? I celebrate that.

It’s why I am so honored to work with survivors who’ve survived all manners of trauma. You did it! You are here today. Come let us find a warm, safe place to replant you… 

That’s the work I get invited to do. Metaphorically, I find I get  to help people finally replant themselves and flourish where they were meant to be.

And in their twisted, nearly bowed to the ground forms, I find all of us extremely beautiful and resilient and powerful – like a  pop on the head of the universe – the epitome of not simply surviving but thriving.

Just think though, if replanted; a huge effort to excavate all those precious roots and dig a huge hole and plant yourself in the grove where you were meant to flourish, what would that mean?  What would you look like there? What would you be able to do there?

I invite you to consider all this.