HeartBalm

Restoring Balance: Lessons from the Chaos Around Us

It’s impossible not to feel fear about what’s happening in the world today or to ignore the clear imbalances, extremes, and upheaval we’re living through. Political corruption feels unchecked and rampant, while toxic mindsets fuel violence, hatred, and deepen divides. People are scared – scared of change, of losing control, and of the uncertainty that fills our every waking moment. It feels like the world is spinning out of control, and it’s easy to lose hope and believe that things will ever settle, or that peace will ever return.

The only constant in life is change.

_Heraclitus, Heraclitus: Fragments

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Dearest HeartBalm Reader,

Below is a snapshot of everything posted at HeartBalm in January. Take a moment to review, listen, read, and reread each HeartBalm Healing podcast and The Friday Editions you may have missed. And don’t forget to check out the archives for more healing resources, inspiration, meditations, and posts on CPTSD and trauma-related content.

Sending you all my love and healing vibes! Be sure to subscribe to the free HeartBalm YouTube Channel.

• HeartBalm Healing Podcast read by Sunny Lynn

• The Friday Edition

• All Wednesday Meditations with Sunny, Power Gems, and Notes from Nature

• Access to the complete archives

• Ability to comment on every article

• All free posts, notes, articles, and threads

• Our deepest gratitude in supporting the ad-and-sponsor-free-work of HeartBalm: a loving space to unfold in, heal, and bring comfort and resolve to each one of us, and by extension - the world

Thank you so much to all my amazing subscribers, friends, and companions on this healing journey, and a big welcome to all of our new subscribers joining us! I'm grateful for your support, subscriptions, and donations that help me continue this work, and thrilled to have each and every one of you here as we keep growing, healing, and discovering our best selves together. #HeartBalm #CommunityPower #ShareYourStory #EngageAndInspire

HeartBalm is an ad-and-sponsor-free reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.

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Healing Survival Programs of Diminishment, Invisibility & The Struggle to Matter

When I moved back east last spring, I could feel how much I had healed and grown compared to the last time I’d been here. The version of me that had thrived in the mountains – the one that felt alive, authentic, and deeply connected to what I loved – felt like a powerful force within me. I carried that truth and self-love into my return, but as the months passed, I felt it fading. Being back in the environment where I grew up, surrounded by familiar triggers and patterns, was like stepping into a fog. It wasn’t long before I noticed how difficult it was to hold onto the clarity and vibrancy of my mountain self in the face of old family dynamics and cultural limitations.

For many trauma survivors, this struggle is all too familiar. One of the most damaging messages that trauma delivers – whether through abusive parents, toxic relationships, or dysfunctional environments – is that we don’t matter. That our needs are too much, our voices are too loud, our dreams too ridiculous to be worth pursuing. Over time, we start to internalize those messages, believing that the only way to survive is to shrink ourselves.

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

_Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin

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If you’ve found value in this space, I’d appreciate your support in keeping it going. Becoming a paid subscriber helps sustain our work here, allowing us to deepen the conversation and grow together. Thank you for being part of this community – I’m truly grateful for each of you.

CPTSD Survivors Are More Than Survivors – They Are Pioneers

There’s a fire in the hearts of CPTSD survivors – an intense, unyielding force born from pain and betrayal. It’s not just a passive flicker of mere survival; it is a burning testament to their strength, shaped by the deep, unforgivable wounds of childhood and longstanding trauma, and intensified over time by the relentless replaying of battles into adulthood. This fire doesn’t just endure; it defies. It refuses to be extinguished, turning scars into fuel, pain into purpose, and silence into a rallying cry for a life reclaimed.

They tried to break you, but instead, you became the flame that lights the way.

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Living a Wildflower Life! Finding Safety When It Feels Nowhere to Be Found

_Elizabeth Gilbert, Elizabeth Gilbert for Em & Friends You Are Safe Journal

Safety is not always a place. Sometimes, it is a whisper – a fleeting moment of awareness carried on the breeze, warming your skin like sunlight breaking free from dozy parting clouds. Other times, it’s a trembling thread you weave into your own hands and being when the world feels jagged and sharp, when everything in you screams for shelter but none appears.

For those of us who have walked through the fires of trauma, safety is less a given and more a practice. It’s a feeling we chase, an elusive longing we dare not believe in. How could we trust it, when the people or places meant to hold us safe betrayed us? Safety, for many of us, became an abstract dream – a place we couldn’t find but desperately needed.

So how do we build it, this fragile, invisible thing? How do we steady ourselves when life feels overwhelming or cruel or lonely?

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Welcome back, dear readers! I hope the holiday season brought you moments of peace and healing, and that you're feeling supported and safe as we step into 2025. I know for many, the holidays can bring up old wounds, and I want to acknowledge how challenging that can be, especially for those of us living with CPTSD and the weight of past trauma. Please take care of yourselves and move at your own pace.

If you’ve found value in this space, I’d be deeply grateful for your support in keeping it going. Becoming a paid subscriber helps sustain the work we’re doing here, allowing us to deepen the conversation and grow together. Thank you for being part of this community—I’m truly grateful for each of you.

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Dearest HeartBalm Reader,

November is finally over and what a month! It has been a roller coaster ride of emotions, unimaginable shifts, and uncertainties. And, while the chaos reigned you may have missed a few posts so I’m leaving a snapshot of posts here for you with easy quick links to every HeartBalm offering posted in November. Take a moment to revi…

Finding Gratitude in the Darkest Hours

We are living through times that feel like a relentless storm. The world feels dark and volatile, as if it is teetering on the edge of total chaos. Like me, you may be feeling this in your bones, in your gut, in the way your shoulders rise up and brace when you hear the news or step into conversations rife with negativity.

You are not alone in this ache. It is collective, woven deeply into the cracks and crevices of our world, and feels as if it is straining under the weight of so much pain. And yet, here we are, carrying on with a broken but beating heart. That, in and of itself, is a testament to our collective strength and endurance.

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You Are Not Your Trauma: The Victimhood Trap

Complex trauma (CPTSD) leaves deep grooves in our being, echoing through our skin with pain, abandonment, and despair. For those who have endured relentless trauma, the need to be seen and validated often feels like a lifeline that we can never quite attain. This yearning isn’t a weakness – it is the voice of a soul that has been ignored for far too long.

But there’s a fine line between acknowledging our suffering and letting it define us. When we become entangled in the identity of the victim, we risk not just halting our healing but also losing sight of our true essence.

Victimhood is a way of staying connected to our pain, but it also keeps us from the deeper truth of who we are.

_A.H. Almaas, Elements of the Real in Man (Diamond Heart, Book 1)

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And Nature Said, “Glad to Have You Back Again”

I often find comfort in nature – a place that offers me a deep, wordless pause and finds me when I most need it. When I have stayed too long in the world of societal norms and others’ expectations, when the stress of bills and deadlines begins to weigh too heavily, nature calls me back to myself.

Hearing the dirt and rocks crunching beneath my feet on a hike in the woods, seeing two birds nesting, patiently waiting for their babies to hatch, and nurturing them until they take their first flight – these moments offer a soul-healing awareness. And what a wonder it is that I have the ability to witness these beautiful beings and events. They don’t ask why, but I always seem to. Yet, in their quiet simplicity, there is a gift – a wisdom that transcends words.

As Albert Einstein so wisely said:

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.

_Albert Einstein, 100 Inspirational Quotes By Albert Einstein That Will Change Your Life And Set You Up For Success

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