Stephanie Rayburn Therapy

05/24/2022

01/13/2022

12/29/2021

Illustration .eared__pages

11/07/2021

THE EDGE YOU CARRY WITH YOU

You know
so very well
the edge
of darkness
you have
always
carried with you.

You know
so very well,
your childhood legacy:

that particular,
inherited
sense of hurt,
given to you
so freely
by the world
you entered.

And you know
too well
by now

the body’s
hesitation
at the invitation
to undo
everything
others seemed
to want to
make you learn.

But your edge
of darkness
has always
made
its own definition
secretly
as an edge of light

and the door
you closed
might,
by its very nature
be
one just waiting
to be leant against
and opened.

And happiness
might just
be a single step away,
on the other side
of that next
unhelpful
and undeserving
thought.

Your way home,
understood now,
not as an achievement,
but as a giving up,
a blessed undoing,
an arrival
in the body
and a full rest
in the give
and take
of the breath.

This living
breathing body
always waiting
to greet you
at the door,
always prepared
to give you
the rest you need,
always,
no matter
the long
years away,
still
wanting you,
to come home.

…

From ‘The Edge You Carry With You’
in ‘Still Possible’ David Whyte
Many Rivers Press Dec 1st 2021
Available on Pre-order
https://davidwhyte.com/collections/books-cards-and-audio/products/still-possible
…

Standing at The Edge.
Photo © David Whyte
Land’s End. Golden Gate
San Francisco. November 1st 2021

09/28/2021

Making hard choices isn’t easy 💜

08/29/2021

Parenting can feel like a super high-stakes game of trying to "get it right," all the time. This article nicely summarizes the concept of "good-enough parenting" and how practicing self-compassion, accountability, and being more flexible in our expectations for ourselves and our children can be a needed antidote to idealized parenting practices.

You'll never be a perfect parent—which is actually a good thing, experts say.

08/24/2021

Andrea Gibson is a marvelously good poet who frequently writes about self-understanding and growth. I wanted to share her reading of this poem with you.

TW: Cancer, chemotherapy, hair loss.