Sanctuary for the Heart.

12/23/2025

I used to believe that I was walking myself home and now it’s clear to me that there is something here that is walking it’s own self home. A natural unfolding that requires little from me apart from humility and a willingness to take my foot off the brake and hands off the rudder.

You are warmly invited to join me for my upcoming 8 week online course where we will be practicing shifting our orientation from fear and control to a natural sense of wonder.

Simple and Here: Our Beloved Nature of Right Now
January 9th, 2026 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm PST

An 8 week online course created by Trauma Therapist, Organic Intelligence Certified Coach and experienced Nervous System Practitioner Candace Kirby.

The unintegrated past obscures our view of reality.

This online series will provide clear understanding, direction and clarity for attuning to the needs of the traumatized physiology while gently supporting the nervous system to recognize safety and align with the nature of the present moment.

Join Candace and a small group of friends for this 8 week transformative online course as we shift the orientation of our lives from Survival to Presence.

12/23/2025

Some words land hard and heavy
like a punch to the gut
that vibrates through the body
and other words
land softly and then just melt away.
Like a kiss.

12/21/2025

Dignity

There is a quiet dignity in being here.
The sound of the fire crackling and
the occasional car going by.
A long taper candle softly holding
my steady gaze. A gentle flicker.
I notice remnants of what I call
my creature nature. A constriction in the body.
Of course. I have prepared a place for her.
There is no dignity in creature nature. Just survival
and a cry for help. For redemption.
A gut wrenching loss of dignity.
I put my hand on my heart and once again
whisper sweet words of reassurance. I am restoring my
own physiology back to safety and the simple grace of being here.
An ordinary moment infused with patience and quiet contemplation.
My little dog Maisie is curled up in her crate. She rarely uses her crate
but it was cold this morning and her instinct took her into her little cave
where it’s warm and cozy.
A safe cozy little cave lined and covered with soft blankets.
Creature comfort.

© candace kirby

12/20/2025

My Hands are Empty

It’s the most tender parts

that stay hidden in the shadows

of the psyche. Patiently waiting until it’s

safe enough; soft enough and slow enough

to reveal their nature as our very own nature.

All that bluster and noise is not who we really are.

Who we really are is much too gentle and innocent

to take on the task of becoming someone other

than our own precious self. So it stays

curled up in a tight little ball in the centre of our own being

as we slowly and painstakingly find our way back.

Those of us who find our way back will return worn and weary;

bedraggled and yet quieted in a way that is beyond words.

We begin to recognize each other through our lack of guile

and lack of assurance about anything beyond this moment.

My hands are empty.

This experience right now. All I know is this. And sometimes it hurts

more than I could ever have imagined.

When we speak it’s more like a question than a statement.

Did you ever imagine? We travelled all the way here from there

and never once did we leave this very place where we sit right now.

This is a mystery that can only be discovered through experience.

We will grab onto each other’s hands for support as we find our way back

but at some point even those hands will fall away as the very ground we

stand on and the air we breathe becomes our source of trusted support.

We are Home. Here. Like This. Always This.

© candace kirby

12/20/2025

It’s the most tender parts
that stay hidden in the shadows
of the psyche.

You are warmly invited to join me for my upcoming 8 week online course where we will be learning how to create the right conditions that allow the most tender parts ot move to the forefront of our experience.

Simple and Here: Our Beloved Nature of Right Now
January 9th, 2026 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm PST

An 8 week online course created by Trauma Therapist, Organic Intelligence Certified Coach and experienced Nervous System Practitioner Candace Kirby.

The unintegrated past obscures our view of reality.

This online series will provide clear understanding, direction and clarity for attuning to the needs of the traumatized physiology while gently supporting the nervous system to recognize safety and align with the nature of the present moment.

www.candacekirby.ca/events

12/19/2025

Always Here

The ghost of Christmas past
is a gentle whisper this year.

My grandson’s first christmas ornament.
My grandmother’s beaded christmas bells
My children’s christmas cards; to mom, stored
in a box on the top of a shelf.

I saw an image of my mom at the stove lifting a huge
turkey out of the oven and realized that I never
really knew how hard she worked.

I love you mom. Thank you.

I listened to Bing Crosby this morning
singing White Christmas and the Heavy Metal band, Disturbed,
singing The Sound of Silence.
Smooth and Sentimental. Potent and disturbing.

Past and Present.

As I look up from my meandering through the past
I notice the lights; candles and my tiny christmas tree.
A single moment in time. A snapshot.

Maisie curled up beside me on the couch, her
warm little body providing comfort and an anchor into now.

As my attention wanders back to the present moment, I notice
the profound stillness that permeates everything. I’m here. I’ve always been here.

I've never been anywhere else but right here.

Home.

© candace kirby

12/19/2025

Many years ago I wrote down these words spoken by Adyashanti, "be a stand for what you’re for; not what you’re against". I've never forgotten those words and have been quietly inquiring into what they really mean since that time.

This is what I've realized.

We can't be a stand for what we're for as long as we have undigested trauma in our physiology.

What we’re against lives in the body and reiterates as a pattern that includes the nervous system; emotions; beliefs; thoughts and identities or in other words, "the past". What we’re for is experienced through the senses and our natural impulses and authentic instincts or in other words, "the present".

You are warmly invited to join me for my upcoming 8 week online course where we will be practicing shifting our orientation from the past to the present:

Simple and Here: Our Beloved Nature of Right Now
January 9th, 2026 @ 11:00 am - 1:00 pm PST

An 8 week online course created by Trauma Therapist, Organic Intelligence Certified Coach and experienced Nervous System Practitioner Candace Kirby.

The unintegrated past obscures our view of reality.

This online series will provide clear understanding, direction and clarity for attuning to the needs of the traumatized physiology while gently supporting the nervous system to recognize safety and align with the nature of the present moment.

Join Candace and a small group of friends for this 8 week transformative online course as we shift the orientation of our lives from Survival to Presence.

12/18/2025

WWA or What's Wrong Attention is decorating your whole Christmas tree and then noticing that one spot that has a little gap where a christmas light should be and not being able to take your eyes off of it in spite of how beautiful the rest of the tree looks. 🎄

12/18/2025

One thing I've learned for certain, over the last decade, is that not picking out the "right" Christmas present for someone is not a true crisis. Be kind to yourself this year.

12/17/2025

My only wish is to be here
as I am. As it is right now.
I notice the disconnect from my body.
A gap created by so much fear. And freeze.
And pretense.
So I find my feet.
Cozy and warm.
Wiggling toes. Right foot. Left foot.
And the weight of my body on the chair
stable and uncompromising. Here.
Home. Always home.
Clasping my hands together
I blow warm air into the centre of my palms.
Oh how my body loves warmth.
After the collapse I spent so much time frozen.
Feeling too little. Feeling too much.
Falling, falling falling and yet
barely moving off the couch. My body still remembers
although the danger has long since passed.

© candace kirby

12/15/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRCXXTse-JI

Watch the official music video for "dear anxiety" by BLÜ EYESSubscribe to my YouTube Channel: 🔔 https://bit.ly/SubscribeToBLUEYESListen to "dear anxiety" ou...