I have been pondering on this question since it was posted to the platform. Mostly I have been trying to decide what I should write about, because we have all been affected by violence in one way or another and there are so many different angles that it can be taken from.
I have already written a lot about the destruction that humankind has inflicted on nature. How this dominant and manipulative mindset has raped and pillaged the earth and so many of her living beings. This dominant mindset places mankind above all else and so begins the segregation from nature and from those who they see as holding lesser value that them. It then becomes so much easier for them to behave in the way that they do.
This is such a global problem and one that will only change when we reconnect with the wild that lies within, with the interconnectedness that we have with nature.
Violence stems from a place of unbalance,from a lacking of connection and love. It is a behaviour that has been repeated down through generations, those who have suffered at the hands of violent parents or partners, can find it hard to break that cycle.
Experiencing violence, can fill one with rage and it can become blinding. You can become so consumed with the injustice of it all, that the easiest way to deal with it, is to turn to violence yourself. especially when we are shaped by those people in our lives. When all we know is violence and the only love we know how to give is a violent love.
One that tears us and our partners apart, because we do not know how to love from the heart, but only to love from a place of pain.
When I was a teenager, I did not like to be embraced. I experienced a lot of physical violence growing up, the most physical contact I had, especially from my father was of a violent nature. So it made me uneasy if people got too close. I could just about manage a brief hug, but that was it. If with my boyfriends, I always froze when they got too close to me and I rarely reciprocated the affection they showed me. I tried so hard though, but only because I felt I had to, not because I wanted to. I believed, that was what was expected of me.
When I left home and left that part of my life behind, all of these emotions came rushing to the surface and I went down a destructive, yet healing path (quite fitting for me I think. That path involved me taking drugs and going to squat parties. That was my release and my escape from what was rising to the surface.
For sure I could have dealt with my pain and suffering in a more therapeutic manner, but through the use of drugs I relaxed and opened up and found myself allowing more love into my life. In those moments of euphoria, I felt such intense waves of love and yes I know it may have been better for me to experience it in a more natural way. But it was the intensity that broke through my walls of protection, walls I had up since my childhood.
I needed to feel it with such force and such intensity, because my walls where very feckin wide. When they came down, I finally got to experience what it felt like to really hold someone and to be held. There was no nervousness or fear, only pure trust and love. And yes for some that can seem fake, but for me it wasn't.
I know I have spoken how nature has always been my sanctuary and it has, but healing comes in many forms. And although I have always felt connected with nature, I did felt disconnected from other humans for quite a while, especially in my early and late teens and that was because of violence. I was scared of who they may be and found it really hard to let people in.
We are made up of many different shades, like a patchwork quilt, where all of our experiences joined together create the whole. The shape and colours are splendid and give us our character and the thread holds us together.
The thread is the work we do on ourselves, it is the healing that happens throughout our lives. All healing is a journey and it is something that will continue throughout our lives. I found a way to let love in, in a very unconventional way.
Healing comes in many different forms and it is important to be open to that. We have to follow our own instinct when it comes to healing and not rely on others to always show us the way.
We are capable of healing ourselves, and it is so important that we do so, as it empowers us and that in itself brings another level of healing, because we are taking our power back. Power that was taken from us in those acts of violence. That is what violence ultimately is, taking power by force.
I have always experienced healing when I am out in nature. There are so many ways in which we can heal ourselves and the earth. Our greatest way is interacting with nature in a respectful way and finding ways to honour the earth. I find that when I am working in my garden and also when I am preforming rituals, that they all bring me such great healing, because they strengthen my connection to myself and to the earth, whilst also empowering me.
All of these things tie into LOVE.
Love is most definitely one of the biggest healers. Allowing myself to be loved and loving others continues to heal my scars. But ultimately learning to love myself for who I am and where I have come from, has healed me the most. I know that I am worthy, just as we all are, but for so long I felt the opposite and nothing that anyone said could convince me otherwise, that was something I had to rediscover on my own.
So healing is also an act of rediscovery, bringing us back to reconnecting with the wild within. It is a cycle, as is the way with all things in life!
This is my response to the 
