KEEPING IT REAL 

This is as serious as the reverberation of the ice cracking at the end of winter

It’s the prequel. In fact, it’s pre-season. The schedules haven’t even been printed up yet. But we’re in progress. The quest to liberate the humanity from the tyranny of toxic guilt, shame, and blame, aka, The HeartPower Breakthrough, is underway.

You see, I’m all about keeping it real, and I like that “quest to liberate humanity” verbiage, but it does have a bit of that old school hyperbole to it.

The fog of guilt used to hide the stars and the fear of shame set my agenda. Can you imagine how grateful I am to tell you that this is only a memory now? Blame and resentment used to come between me and those I love. The

Awaken!  Stop Normalizing Abuse! Heal yourself!  Help Heal the world!

By Janus Blume

If you’re on a path of healing, especially if you’re called to help others, you need Normalizing Abuse: A Commentary on the Culture of Pervasive Abuse by Karen Tate, who says,

“We are all part of a traumatized society, enduring abuse. It affects the decisions we make, how we see ourselves and treat others and our vision for the future,”

Ms. Tate asserts there is so much toxic abuse coming at us every day that we no longer recognize it. Nearly everyone I’ve met has certainly experienced it, 

Normalizing Abuse…is no anthem to victimhood.

The other night, my honey and I watched the classic 1955 movie, “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Always love me some Tennessee Williams. His characters live in a shadowland between hope and despair. I can relate. His female protagonists are drama queens. I know that territory, too. They delve into somber moods and self-destructive behavior. Yep. Check that box. Been there, done that, but thank God and Goddess those days are gone.

I wrote this two years ago, but it’s making the rounds again, and I’m so glad.

My daughter-in-law is Filipina.. Her mother was one of nine children. Most of the surviving family members gather for special occasions. Diana hosts Thanksgiving, and that’s where we went for our feast this year.

These gatherings are epic. The love, warmth, laughter, and joking-around create a cacophony that sends some of the more sensitive souls out for a breath of air!

There’s never a dull moment. Before you’ve run out of after dinner conversation the games begin. (I won a Starbuck’s card at pass-the-pumpkin and lost $5 on five rounds of Bingo).

Planning what to take and thinking of a hostess gift, I remembered that Auntie Diana LOVED my little Tiffany lam

I walked in from the sidelines to a musical crescendo from the Sinatra version of Ebb Tide. Projected clips of rolling seas and ocean swells shone onto the drapes behind me. I swished my long taffeta skirt, and the audince asked for more.