Tight Shoulders, Open Heart

How We Carry and Release Emotional Burdens

My shoulders have been tight and up by my ears for a while now. My muscles remember what words cannot articulate. I feel my energy dipping because of the invisible mental and emotional load. The weight of unresolved emotions and tasks pressing down on me. Old hurts that I haven't been able to forgive are resurfacing in my mind. People with whom I am worried about spending time. Navigating the complex landscape of past relationships and unhealed wounds. Trying to figure out and resolve the inconsolable nature of my porous heart. A disposition that is always open.

Stacks of children’s books, scraps of shredded origami shapes and paper planes, elastic bands, and small animal figurines to organize and neatly arrange on shelves. The physical manifestation of my internal clutter and need for order. The stove should be cleaned. My insurance needs to be paid. Mundane tasks that feel overwhelming amidst emotional turbulence.

There are few daylight hours and long nights, and my animal body longs for sleep and comfort, a radical reduction in everything it is currently asked to do. The mind in particular. There are too many things to consider, too many defences and strategies to choose from. A perfect outcome.

The holidays are not just a season. They are a mirror—reflecting back the intricate networks of connection, disconnection, the delicate threads that bind and sometimes suffocate. They can awaken feelings that have been dormant for much of the year. Bringing to the surface emotions typically kept at bay. As we prepare to meet the love and dysfunction within everything and everyone, we reveal the hardest and best parts