How many of us delay or even prevent healing because we are unwilling to go through the pain that is necessary. Yet the heart beats on. Like the skin off a blister or a scab off a wound, there is rawness and vulnerability, but only then does restoration occur. And you hit so beautifully on the ways we cuddle in our wounds, building protective bricks that lack substance or casting spells, which are impotent, while our heart longs to move beyond, and to not allow victory to those who sought to tear us down and stomp us out... but failed. We squint because healing seems unfamiliar... daunting... even surreal when we've accepted abuse and fear and pain as our new homeostasis. But this is an empowering light you speak of. It does not burn us, but bathes us in fire which fuels our progress and our future. No more hiding in self induced deceptive deliriums which seek to justify our trials through fantasy... The tornado was real. The storms will keep coming... There never were gold bricks lining our path through denial... We feel the heat of our life source and stumble forward... it is not the bleeding that is fearful, only if it stops. Once again you paint an amazingly vivid picture of pain and denial and healing and strength and overcoming and survival. Very captivating and poignant. Thanks. Quite uplifting.