Alma de Color

(Image credit to Kristel Koukoua using Canva.com Magic Design AI Image Generator, 2026) I see you, Grief, sitting there across the room. Your shoulders are dropped and serene, Your countenance, hidden from me by your impartial cheek, I know to be calm, patient. Sometimes, I think I've moved on from your visits, Healing and processing each new loss with experience, The deep knowing that we heal and life moves on. Then, a scent, a phrase, a taste, a texture, a sound,  And suddenly, Grief, you look at me with those eyes profound as the caverns of the deep, The silent streams of sorrow pouring down your visage, And I am transported to those moments, Those scenes from days gone by. Sometimes, the memories are mixed with pain and hurt. Sometimes, they spark deep joy and laughter. Sometimes, they feel like a sharp, twisting dagger point. Sometimes, they smolder and burn with leftover anger at injustice. Once the torrent passes and the droplets, too, have ceased, Grief, you smile at me wit...

(Image credit to Kristel Koukoua using Canva.com Magic Design AI Image Generator, 2024)          I first encountered mention of Internal Family Systems (IFS) in the book The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk.  However, as the case study included in that chapter had a split personality disorder, I thought that it only applied to people with such issues, so I mostly skipped over it.  Then, when I started seeing a licensed therapist to help me navigate healing and processing trauma and triggers beyond what I was able to address on my own through research and self-study, he introduced me again to IFS and it has opened up an entire world of extra exploration for me: IFS is my new existential rabbit hole!         I have come to the realization that God made all His creation good to begin with.  Indeed, it was very good.  Satan cannot create, as he was not created with imago dei as humans were.  The...

An echoing thunder torments the corridors of my mind My senses awake, I feel the coming downpour As a mouse feels the lurking talons of the  Feathered shadow, hovering, thrumming. Hovering, thrumming, strumming the poignant chords Reverberating on the thin strings of the chest  Cavity.  I sense a change, I feel the Stirring of a new and unequaled challenge. A new and unequaled sunrise marks the  Arrival of a day fraught with  Unexpected, the unfathomable possibilities Discovered among the rich sands of adventure. Sands of adventure obscure my eyes a And I fight to clear them.  I want to  See clearly now, and forever, avoiding All traps that lie in wait for the unguarded. My heart was supposedly impenetrable and guarded, Believing the best and reckless in abandon, But a thief tiptoed in with promises of strength, Promises of beauty and a pact of forever. The shattered shards of that pact of forever Fe...