Eline Potoski LCSW

12/25/2025

Belonging feels good. It feels safe. It feels right.

So when Rami Kaminski and Neil Hellegers wrote The Gift of Not Belonging, it sounded almost counterintuitive, like saying “loneliness is a strength.” But as I read, I realized that’s exactly what they mean: being an outsider doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re positioned differently. And that difference, when understood can become a gift, not a deficit.

This book doesn’t preach gratitude for suffering, and it doesn’t romanticize isolation. It examines the psychological, emotional, and social dimensions of not fitting in and then flips the script. Rather than treating belonging as a universal goal, it shows how not belonging can cultivate resilience, innovation, autonomy, and depth of self that many “joiners” never experience.

The tone is compassionate, clear, and rooted in both research and lived experience. This isn’t a self-help book that tells you to force yourself into the world. It’s a book that helps you understand where you actually sit in it and how that position can be a source of power.

Lessons That Stay With You:

1. Not fitting in isn’t a flaw, it’s a perspective
Kaminski and Hellegers insist that outsiders see patterns joiners miss. When you’re not absorbed in social norms, you observe them. Visibility isn’t the same as insight. This book reframes being different from being deficient.

2. Belonging is not the only way to connect
Humans are social creatures — but connection doesn’t require conformity. The authors show that deep, meaningful connection can exist beyond groups, in intentional relationships that don’t demand you erase yourself.

3. Outsiders often innovate because they aren’t bound by consensus
When you’re not locked into groupthink or social expectations, you think freely. Creativity doesn’t come from comfort zones, it comes from cognitive distance. This book celebrates the outsider’s natural advantage in divergent thinking.

4. The pain of not belonging can teach emotional resilience
This isn’t sugarcoating loneliness. The book acknowledges the hurt, the awkwardness, the longing, and then helps you understand how that pain strengthens your inner life, your empathy, and your self-reliance.

5. Identity grows in the space between belonging and isolation
Rather than pushing you to seek validation from groups, the book invites you to build identity from internal coherence: values, intentions, and personal truths, not social approval.

6. Outsiders don’t need to reject community, they need healthier ones
The authors aren’t anti-social. They advocate for selective belonging: groups that allow honest presence, individuality, and mutual respect rather than blind assimilation.

7. Thriving outside the center requires self-awareness
The book doesn’t glamorize isolation. Instead, it emphasizes clarity about your own needs, boundaries, and rhythms. Understanding how you operate emotionally and socially becomes a superpower.

In a world obsessed with inclusion, networks, metrics of social success, and “fitting in,” this book points out a quiet truth: belonging isn’t the only way to live fully. Some of the wisest, most creative, bravest lives are lived in the margins, not because those people couldn’t belong, but because they weren’t shaped by a need to.

The Gift of Not Belonging doesn’t tell you to stop seeking connection. It tells you to stop seeking approval. It helps you see that your value (and power) doesn’t depend on membership cards, social circles, popularity, or conformity.

Belonging might make life easier.
Not belonging can make life richer.

BOOK: https://amzn.to/3MQBTVC

Enjoy the audio book with FREE trial using the link above. Use the link to register on audible and start enjoying!

12/03/2025

On neurodiversity, chronic pain and ifs

Chronic conditions through the lens of IFS, attachment & polyvagal theory

10/25/2025

DO NOT FORCE THE HEALING

Do not force the healing, my love.

Healing is always unforced.

It happens when the conditions are right.
When there is just enough love, attention, presence, slowness, trust.

When you aren't trying to heal.
When you aren't trying to awaken.
When you aren't "trying" at all.
When you open your arms wide to the Now.
Fall to the ground.
Let yourself feel the rage, the grief, the loneliness.
Let yourself break. Let yourself feel worse, if you need to feel worse.
Speak your raw truth. Upset some people. Bring others closer.

But don't force yourself, my love.
You have to let go of the result, the agenda, the goal.
And infuse your 'unhealed' experience with love.
Drench your pain, your sorrow, your longing with warm awareness.
Saturate the moment with yourself.

You have to create the conditions for healing,
but you cannot do it.

The ego will rebel at this news.
Your heart will rejoice.

Mysterious forces, ancient and unspeakable, do the healing.

You only
have to get out
of the way.

- Jeff Foster -

Photo: watercolor painting by Francene Hart, an artist known for her visionary art and sacred geometry themes.

Archaeology for the Woman's Soul

10/22/2025

The communicative power of music and calm

10/18/2025

10/17/2025

10/15/2025

10/10/2025

“One of the hardest things about being chronically ill is that most people find what you’re going through incomprehensible—if they believe you *are* going through it,” Meghan O’Rourke writes. Read her Personal History, from 2013, about living with an autoimmune disease, and her struggle to find the right diagnosis and care plan: https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/2NUOXI

10/05/2025

09/28/2025

🧠 PTSD and the Lymphatic System: A Hidden Connection

When we think of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), we often picture the emotional and mental struggles — flashbacks, anxiety, and hypervigilance. But research shows PTSD also leaves physical fingerprints throughout the body, especially in the immune system, inflammation pathways, and even the lymphatic system.

Let’s explore this fascinating link.

🔄 Stress, Trauma & Fluid Balance

PTSD keeps the body stuck in “fight or flight.” Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline stay high, which changes how blood vessels and lymphatic capillaries work.

👉 This can lead to:
• Fluid retention and poor drainage
• Tissue congestion
• Sluggish lymph flow

Over time, the lymphatic system is forced to carry a heavier load of waste, inflammation, and immune activity.

🧠 The Brain–Lymph Connection

In 2015, scientists discovered that the brain does have a lymphatic drainage system — the glymphatic system (which clears waste during deep sleep) and the meningeal lymphatic vessels (which drain to the cervical lymph nodes).

Why this matters in PTSD:
• Poor sleep = poor brain detox
• Neuroinflammation rises (more cytokines, more stress on the brain)
• The lymphatic vessels draining the brain may become overloaded

This creates a feedback loop: stress and trauma increase inflammation → lymph can’t clear it properly → inflammation worsens.

📖 Research:
• Meningeal Lymphatics: An Immune Gateway
• Meningeal lymphatic dysfunction and neurological disease

🌿 Immune System Dysregulation

PTSD is linked to chronic inflammation. People with PTSD often show:
• Higher C-reactive protein (CRP)
• Elevated IL-6 and TNF-α
• Greater risk of autoimmune flare-ups and cardiovascular disease

Since the lymphatic system is the immune system’s highway, it constantly has to process these inflammatory molecules. This can explain why many with PTSD experience:
• Fatigue
• Frequent illness
• Slower recovery from infections

📖 Research:
• The role of the immune system in posttraumatic stress
• Inflammation in PTSD
• Neuroinflammation in PTSD

⚡ Symptoms of Lymphatic Overload in PTSD
• Brain fog and poor memory
• Chronic fatigue and heaviness in the body
• Tender or swollen lymph nodes
• Digestive upset (since gut lymphoid tissue is stress-sensitive)
• Increased autoimmune activity

🌸 Supporting the Lymph in PTSD

While trauma healing needs professional therapy and medical support, caring for the lymph can ease physical stress on the body:
1. Restorative Sleep – deep sleep strengthens brain detox.
2. Gentle Movement – walking, stretching, yoga pumps lymph.
3. Diaphragmatic Breathing – calms the nervous system and pumps the thoracic duct.
4. Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) – reduces fluid congestion and eases tension.
5. Anti-inflammatory Nutrition – omega-3s, leafy greens, berries, turmeric.
6. Somatic Practices – TRE, vagus nerve work, or trauma-informed body therapy.

✨ In summary: PTSD is not only a psychological condition — it also burdens the lymphatic and immune systems. Stress hormones, poor sleep, and inflammation overload the lymph, creating a cycle of fatigue and illness. Supporting lymphatic health can be a gentle but powerful tool alongside trauma therapy.

Bianca Botha CLT, RLD, MLDT & CDS
This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet, exercise, or health regimen.

✅ Research Links to Copy:
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9352784/
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12171638/
• https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/10/5/953
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8699870/
• https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-025-02177-z

09/27/2025

New research has uncovered a fascinating connection between childhood development and adult health. A recent study reveals that your adult body reflects the history of your childhood nervous system, showing how early life experiences leave lasting imprints on physiology and overall well-being.

The nervous system develops rapidly during childhood, shaping brain function, stress responses, and even physical growth. Events during this period—such as nutrition, emotional experiences, and environmental exposures—can influence long-term health outcomes, affecting everything from metabolism to immune response.

Researchers found that markers of the nervous system’s development in childhood can still be traced in adults. This includes subtle structural differences, patterns of neural connectivity, and responses to stress or sensory input. Essentially, your adult body carries a biological memory of early experiences, highlighting the critical importance of childhood health and care.

The study also emphasizes that interventions during childhood can have profound long-term benefits. Supportive environments, proper nutrition, physical activity, and emotional care not only promote healthy nervous system development but can also influence adult resilience, cognitive function, and susceptibility to disease.

Experts suggest that understanding this connection could help in preventive medicine. By examining how the nervous system matured in early life, doctors may identify risk factors for certain conditions or tailor interventions to optimize long-term health.

This research reminds us that early experiences matter. Childhood is not only a formative period for learning and social growth but also for the physical wiring and resilience of the body. By nurturing healthy nervous system development, we can positively shape adult health and quality of life.