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A survivor’s strength and resilience is highlighted by their conscious choice to maintain grace, politeness, and dignity, even after gaining intimate knowledge of abuse, betrayal, or the darker side of human nature. A woman can survive significant hardships, cruelty, depravity, callous intent, and stripping away at her core innocence, due to physical, emotional, and psychological trauma caused by others. A woman’s courtesy is not a sign of naivety or weakness, but a conscious, refined choice of reclaiming her power, beyond the forms of destruction, that many remain indifferent to. With courage, the soul enters into a reformative state of upholding standards, rather than descending into bitterness or reacting with the same brutality one was subjected to.
The soul must develop a form of strength that is quiet, controlled, and deeply aware, where resilience should be admired. One’s innocence and vulnerability is not lost. It is compartmentalized by the mind to preserve one’s sanity, and within time, when powerlessness and fear dissipates, one’s true nature blossoms again anew, fragile to its core, however resurrecting with new profound hope and trust, that love is stronger than the force of confined fear. Within the realm of trauma, resilience plays a profound role, as the soul engages in the act of moving beyond survival, into a state of reformative forgiveness, as it refuses to let one’s character be ruined, by the actions of others.
Survival is a fascinating paradox, which balances the dichotomies of fear and trust. At first glance, healing provides a protective shield where restoratively, one’s fragmented structure is reclaimed and rebuilt over time. Within the lens of fragmentation, introspective metamorphic, catharsis opens the soul to reveal, a much more complex internal struggle, where grace confronts the fragmentation of fragility.
The mask a survivor wears is multifaceted, as they experience loss of self, shame, scrutinization, ostracization, and isolation, within their healing process. Within the realms of recovery, fragmentation occurs when a person’s sense of self is shattered by trauma or their overwhelming reality. Many survivors do not heal within time, as their embedded scars are profound, deep, and shattering to their core. A survivor is often taught to conceal or mask their pain or encouraged to hold the pieces together, of their remaining life, when their inner world remains fractured. One may never comprehend, acknowledge, or fully understand the horrors a survivor had to endure, within the confines or narrow margins of acute, atypical abuse. However, for the soul to reach a metamorphic pause or salvation has to fall apart, as one compartmentalizes their pain, into certain regions where performance then becomes attuned, to regain their sense of normalcy. The soul clings to what was familiar, comfortable, and what afforded sense, cohesion, congruence, or order. The outer shell may appear intact and coherent however, the inner world remains desolate, fractured, and yearns for restoration of a semblance of peace, of what was known.
Within the collapsing interior of a survivors mind, one strives to seek structural support, when their foundational core has experienced destruction. A survivor then stands at the precipice, of trying to seek the positive within the negative, when their sense of safety has become eclipsed by fear, powerlessness, and scarcity. Within the breaking point, one then becomes automatic or robotic within their motions, as their fragile foundation seeks to conceal the horrors they have experienced, behind the closed doors of secrecy. A survivor within the beginning stages of recovery will go through the motions due to a survival based act of will. However, behind heavy eyes they recognize and do not remain ignorant of the evil, which resides within the world.
Survivors during the beginning stages experience a sense of loss of joy, powerlessness to stop what goes against their moral judgement, ethicality, sense of justice, or morality, becoming doll-like and lifeless. However, beyond the façade, the internal tension is immense, and just like porcelain, the slightest bend shatters the support system. Cyrus the Great once stated a powerful quote, “Even if skies were to my knees, I shall not kneel,” however, due to the gravity of the circumstance, failure is not an option and the soul does not bend, due to the rigidity of what must be held up for appearance sake. Society needs to recognize the fragility of the immoral conduct, cascading onto a susceptible vessel, who just happened to be the subject, of another act of ill will and scorn.
Survivors of sexual assault are essentially looking through the looking glass, just like Alice in Wonderland however, within their external environment, remain within a bell jar. Becoming doll-like is often a physical and psychological manifestation of dissociation and immobility, which are automatic survival mechanisms, triggered by extreme fear. A survivor experiences a sense of dread when they experience abuse where they cannot fight, resist, or flee, and the brain shifts to dissociation, in order to restore a semblance of sanity from inhumane acts. When a survivor experiences dissociation or the mental discount from their external world, it is a symptomatic response to heinous acts committed against them. Survivors may feel, as if they are outside their body, or watching a movie of the event. This mental distancing can lead to a vacant, doll-like expression, or a lack of emotional responsiveness, as the brain tries to protect itself from overwhelming trauma.
During recovery, a survivor is faced with two options, to live or perish. It is cruel to assume that what they have endured, faced, and confronted can be dealt with in a easy manner, as their scars are internal, unseen, and concealed from the public, and only through the act of trust, and operation of good faith, does a survivor provide a glimpse of the madness that resides, after the act has been committed. A survivor’s sense of safety collapses, as they feel pressure, immobility, and acute tension of what can no longer be restored. Immobility, paralysis, and stagnation essentially occurs within a survivors existence, as they reach an involuntary state, where muscles become paralyzed or rigid, where the will to live must be decided within moments after an attack, as the soul loses faith in humanity within an instant.
Within the state of harm, a survivor experiences a sense of collapsed immobility which means, a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure, causing the person to lose their sense of equilibrium, balance, and grounding. A survivor’s pleas, are a cry for help, and should not be misunderstood, as a vexatious act to falsely accuse their oppressor. No woman on earth would stand trial for this type of crime, in order to seek attention or sympathy.
Survivors may become overly passive or compliant, to appease an aggressor, and minimize further harm. This submissiveness can be perceived by others, as being “doll-like,” or having a diminished sense of self. Systemic long term trauma causes body self-objectification, where a survivor begins to view their own body, as an object, rather than a part of themselves. For the mind to view one’s existence as only utile, is to cause fracturization of one’s essential worth, essence, and value. Disrupted body boundaries coupled with a sense of feeling broken, damaged, defective, or destroyed, causes a survivor to lose their inherent sense of worth, pride, and standing.
Sexual assault is a haunting experience, which causes an immense sense of profound fear, loss, grief, and rupture within the soul. A survivor experiences a profound sense of dissociation and depersonalization that often follows sexual trauma. Within the looking glass, a survivor experiences dissociation from their core reality. Much like Alice stepping into a world, where rules and physics no longer apply, survivors often experience, a split in consciousness. Within the moments and motions of healing, a survivor at times loses momentum, as they experience de-realization, which causes the world around them to feel surreal, dreamlike, or foggy, as if they are watching a movie of their own life, rather than living it.
Survivors, often describe a sense of being an “observer outside their own body,” which is a state psychiatrists officially labelled as, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. Within this syndrome, one dissolves their sense of reality, which inevitably distorts their perception of one’s own size or the environment which surrounds them. Survivors often feel that they are “fighting against a higher invisible power” or “force” that must be overcome. The real question is, is the invisible force, an aspect, core belief, ingrained value or feeling, which has become embedded within the self, in need of release? Grief enables the surfacing of external submerged underlying feelings and emotions to come to light, which inevitably forces the soul of the survivor to confront their soul core wounds which causes disturbance within. Within the two dichotomous states of de-realization and depersonalization, a survivor essentially feels trapped, within the bell jar of time, due to the isolation and entrapment of thoughts, wounds, and lack of resources, to fully understand the traumatic events they have endured. The bell jar famously used by Sylvia Plath, represents a specific type of psychological entrapment, which causes a mental cage of sensory distancing, where one feels the weight of being under a glass dome, where one can see the world clearly, but feels unable to breathe the same air as everyone else aroundb them. A survivor within a bell jar struggles to connect emotionally with the outside world as their remain a prisoner inside. Within the mental cage, dramatic memories can cause a glass wall to preside, which separates the survivor from their pre-trauma identity, and from other people, leading to profound feelings of isolation, even in a crowd. Within the state of fragmentation, one then stands to reason, how to reclaim their internal power, while honouring the role of unity within their recovery. Within the process of structural dissociation, the mind creates a safety net, where the core aspect of the individual handles daily monotonous tasks, while the emotional sacred aspects remain trapped within the layers of embedded unseen scars, derived from moments of trauma, which causes a survivor to lose touch with their sense of comfort, reality, and respect for the self. To collide in two distinct paradigms at once, a survivor experiences and remains cautious of all interactions due to hypervigilance however, conceals one foot behind the looking glass.
Many will often feel that a survivor is nothing less, than a broken horse in need of discipline, dominance, or structure. Within the moments of time, where one experiences a profound loss of agency, spirit, and self-cohesion, a survivor should not be further subjected or admonished for their symptomatic reactions, for unprecedented acts of ill will and a cascading hate imposed or forced on their sacred soul by others. A survivor is not in need of remedy or reformation; they require empathetic human compassionate care. Just as a wild horse’s will is forcibly overcome, a survivor’s boundaries and internal sense of power are often shattered by the trauma. A survivor experiences the shattering of their sacred agency, fragmentation within their core foundational spirit or essence, a shattered worldview where they have now come to question their moral judgement, and coupled with the insurmountable weight of misunderstanding, misalignment, or turbulence, have to deal, as a life sentence, with the internal fragmentation of their soul, as they seek restorative peace.
A survivor experiences a loss of will, and an erosion of their sacred foundational boundaries and structure. Sexual violence is an annihilation of a person’s agency. Survivors may feel as though the “rider” of their own life has been unseated, leaving them to live in a state of constant, reflexive fear. In cases of prolonged or repeated trauma, the survivor’s entire personality may be reshaped to meet the demands of the perpetrator, leading to a compliant or broken state that suppresses their natural instincts for survival and self-protection.
Sexual assault is not willful compliance; it is an act of malicious intent cascaded onto an innocent victim to cause duress, disturbance, pain, stagnation, and loss of faith or life within itself. The metaphor of a horse and rider is often utilized by psychologists to explain trauma, the “rational” brain (rider) loses control when the “instinctive” brain (horse) is startled. For survivors, the “horse” may remain in a permanent state of panic or collapse, making it impossible for the “rider” to feel in control. The moral question which remains is, how does a survivor confront a shattered worldview of life? Trauma causes a fracture within a soul’s fundamental belief that they are safe, competent, worthy of existence, essential, or deserving of protection. Survivors experience a loss of the self, where they inevitably remain within the death of winter. Within the state of motionless winter, a survivor is forced to confront aspects of the self within the state of paralysis, acutely examining the parts that remain shattered on the floor. The state of motionless winter, is a profound biological and psychological paralysis, where the survivor’s nervous system remains in a permanent state of dormancy to prevent further shattering. While a survivor remains a doll, lifeless, silenced, and fragile, with pieces that can break at a moments notice, we then witness the loss of agency, where the looking glass represents the mental distance, whereas the winter represents the stagnation of time and emotion. To remain motionless, within the state of one’s thoughts, is a form of encapsulated torture where the world moves forward whereas, a survivor is forgotten within time. Within the state of hibernation, a survivor will experience a shutdown, where the survivor will be driven into hibernation to preserve a core sense of self for a future time, where safety may finally be granted. Time in essence remains frozen to its core, and time ceases to maintain a linear flow. Survivors often grapple with the concept of remaining present, within their state of pain, as they remain reluctant or resistant to address their soul core wounds, internal pain, and core roots, which causes them to relive or re-experience the trauma, as if it were occurring in present time, regardless of how many years have passed. Many will experience remaining adrift within time and space, unable to anchor themselves to the present, or imagine a concrete future where hope, faith, trust, and joy can be restored. Immobility causes a decrease in one’s reflexes, senses, and numbness within the body.
Even long after the event, a shadow of the original freeze response can linger as emotional numbness, where there is an absence of restorative justice, where the positive and negative blend together, creating a desolate grey winter like internal landscape, where thawing is not an option, as internal defences are built layer by layer. Frozen tears represent suppressed grief, icicles then metaphorically represent frozen unshed tears. For a survivor, icicles represent and symbolize emotions that are often too overwhelming to process at the moment of trauma. Instead of flowing, the grief then freezes, remaining suspended in space and time, and what is left? A cold, voidless appearance, a lost soul, or a fragment of what once was remains. The frozen state of a survivor represents both the protection of the past, while confronting the fragility of the present. Often forms through repeated exposure to trauma, or the slow accumulation of shame and silence, a survivor then has to confront the embedded layers, which add to the weight and thickness of the emotional shield, making the internal world feel increasingly heavy, unknown, and rigid.
Words are often used to diminish a survivor’s experience, such as “vexatious”, “calculated,” “unfounded,” “unclear,” “damaged,” or even “seeking sympathy or attention.” The weight of the situation has already crushed the spirit, and words just amplify, condone, or demonstrate complicity, due to ignorance, apathy, or silence. As a survivor we do not need another to define our narrative, we lived it. Our truth resides within our survival from the act of destruction, as we are the living, prime example of what hate causes within abnormal, acute, or deregulated circumstances. Sharpness becomes a form of survival mechanism, as icicles are beautiful but dangerous and sharp. Within the duality, which mirrors a survivor’s experience, a survivor may utilize protection from becoming cold and withdrawn due to emotional numbness, which acts as a barrier that preserves one’s sanity, peace, and sanctuary, to keep others at a distance, which provides protection from future hurt. The sharpness experience has already turned inward, as a survivor has felt the weight of the dagger of the situation, which manifests grief, suffering, or a painful experience that pierces the survivor’s sense of safety, respect, and self.
The fragility of the situation is dire, despite the appearance of strength, hardness, and distant exterior. Survivors often feel this same sense of brittleness, a fear that if they thaw too quickly, or if someone touches their trauma, they will completely break apart. Like the elemental property of water, a survivor remains not fluid but within a state of suspended animation, where they feel stuck, paralyzed, or stagnant due to the overwhelming fear and grief of the weight of the circumstance. Within the state of coldness, one cannot remain mutable, flow, or seek a diverse course or path, it lacks entry for nourishment of the soul. Stagnation is essentially motionless winter, where expansion, growth, enlightenment, and life, are placed on hold, to ensure survival. Healing enables the process of allowing that ice to safely melt so that the survivor can regain progress. Therefore, the next time another feels the urge to state to a survivor, “get over it,” or remains within a state of silence, it demonstrates callous intent and causes a pause to seek progressive change. Survivors during recovery, become profound physical examples of catalytic change, as their stories shatter the illusion of what trauma embodies, as their scars do not heal in the physical sense, as they are hidden beneath many compounded layers. A survivor enters into a functional freeze where they process the ability to go through the motions of life, working and socializing, while feeling entirely hollow and lifeless on the inside. Survivors may unconsciously remain in winter because thawing is painful. As the numbness fades, the intense heat of the original emotions such as rage, terror, and grief returns. Remaining motionless is a way to keep those overwhelming sensations contained and frozen in place. Often the window to the soul remains within the eyes, therefore, one must remain consciously mindful of their actions, words, and conduct, within these types of situations, as the severity of the situation depends on acute recovery and immediate intervention to restore the soul back to its harmonious state, which is that of peace.
Trauma can break a person’s fundamental belief that they are safe, worthy, or competent. This is often described by survivors as a “death of the self,” where the person they were before the event, feels like an abstract, separate, unreachable being. Healing is not about fixing the broken parts, but about restoration or reintegration through consistent love, support, assistance, and care on a survivor’s own terms. Survivors often seek mechanisms which help them regulate their nervous system, without the pressure of verbal speech to reclaim their power, voice, and peace by taking back the past by transforming an unnatural and unnarratible event into a personal account of survival and resilience. A survivor understands the nuances of what can occur within the state of fragmentation of society, as their worldview holds that a civilized world no longer exists therefore, restoring peace is the only answer to enable forgiveness, restoration, salvation, and emancipation of the soul beyond the forms of fear, destruction, and isolation. Often within the state of isolation, a survivor encounters a different kind of fragmentation, where one is then emotionally separated or alienated from those which used to afford comfort. A survivor may seek to become whole, when their personal belief holds that the world has become a place of suffering, destruction, chaos, and brokenness. The emotional burden of independence, the pressure of overachievement, and the desire for unconditional acceptance, rather than validation, becomes a heavy burden for a survivor, as they are faced with comments such as, “You used to be happier.” Within time, happiness, peace, love, faith of self and self-respect is restored within the state of metamorphic restoration and acute internal analysis however, a survivor must become adaptable, and resilient, by rising and becoming a source of their own strength, with grace.
Survivors seek to influence and improve the environment which surrounds them by demonstrating that endurance and survival must be eclipsed by unity, love, and compassion for all. Collective respect is a key component, which enables global peace to take root. A survivor’s internal strength and unshakeable values, provides assistance to operate within dire circumstances, which restores order, amidst internal chaos, which is often unseen. Our traumatic experiences speak to others, who experienced the same spectrum of events. A survivor must ensure that the past does not overlap within the future context, as remaining within a residual state of energetic exchanges, causes one’s finite energy to become depleted, drained, and severed. Within the state of self-mastery, a survivor rises beyond the forms of destruction with focus, determination, and a powerful sense of will, where freedom is not then seen or viewed as a never-ending cycle of pressure rather, it becomes a liberating catalytic force for change. The fragmented state is temporary for a survivor to learn the importance of boundaries, beyond remaining absent, polite, or courteous to what had been endured. Within the soul’s eyes after they have experienced the immoral paradox of harm, they view the world as unsafe and shattered. When peace is not apparent, the soul views only from a lens of a fragmented clip of a lost civilization that the character holds onto to prevent total psychological collapse. One must remain fully cognizant of the darkness within the world, as a survivor has witnessed, how far humanity will go to cause total collapse of the mind, body, and soul. Without a strong structural base or foundational core based in ethicality, morality, justice, and integrity, the fragments of a broken society then demonstrate the fleeting moments of order.
Internal fragility must be addressed within the spiritual context, as one’s soul wounds and sacred core roots, unveil not just the present context but the reincarnated trajectories of intergenerational trauma, embedded programmed conditional responses, and acute loss of self. Performative masking conceals the depths of pain, which resides within the soul, politeness and automated responses become a form of illusion, to maintain the societal narrative of “keeping quiet about what happened,” or “Don’t go there.” What confronts the nature of complicity, apathy, ignorance, the wall of silence, and resistance to change, is when a survivor stands within their divine truth. Society must confront apathy, as it causes stagnation from the core root of complicity, where the rigidity to change, becomes a destructive reality. Fragmentation is caused by the weight of the past, as trauma that has become a lived experience or witnessed, is etched into the karmic scales and cannot be undone, unseen, or changed. Within the forms of recovery, we must seek to honour the traditional elements of approaches, which seek to blend the traditional with the modern contemporary approaches. Within the arbor of tradition, it at times functions as a sensitive armour rather than a mask, as it is a way to survive, rather than descending into the gyre of the level of the aggressor. A survivor must hold onto their moral judgement, principles, ethical and moral discernment, inner value system, and acts of kindness, which are more permanent than the temporary forms of violence. An oppressor may take a moment of a survivor’s precious time, however, does not have to define the landscape of their existence. Fragmentation causes fragility, where one must balance societal expectations of polite words and silence which conceal one’s internal landscape of traumatic endurance of painful memories. Society often seeks to preserve a lost world, where the notion of these acts of violence remain within the void of silence and secrecy however, a survivor must persevere and utilize their armour of truth, as their survival mechanisms, approaches, and methods, can assist or help others who may have been subjected to inhospitable or hostile environments, which condone these acts of immoral intent.
A survivor must not remain subordinate to their lived experiences, or refuse to allow silence to become the measure or act of complicity. A survivor’s goal is not to allow his or her oppressor, the satisfaction of breaking their soul’s core spirit. One has to stand in a liberated stance of reclaiming their life, space, peace, power, and sovereignty from those who seek to undermine or re-address their civil rights or sacred inherent liberties of freedom. One must acknowledge that in a sense, the world is broken however, a survivor’s body is their own sovereign territory, which the world should not touch, devalue, or destroy. One must question the underlying tension, of what is the cost of performance? It is exhausting to conceal the underlying fragmentation within, as the psyche must grapple with how to save another’s life, beyond their own. Within the wall of silence, there is a heavy expectation or professional veneer of remaining perfect. Our souls are all perfectly imperfect, as our traumas shape our truths and realities.
One’s personal identity must not be tied to another’s subjected or projected narrative of their personal experiences. Enabling suffering on a profound scale, causes the soul to have to embrace an unnatural and unethical approach to navigate the world, which demonstrates extreme cruelty in various cases. Confronting and challenging the paradoxes of what causes complicity enables all members of society to accurately address what is being silenced, compartmentalized, or hidden from plain view. A survivor is often polite because that is the fragment of the self that one allows the world to see; the aware and damaged fragments are kept in total isolation. A survivor operates within the state of pure, raw, reality where they have experienced the absolute limits of unnatural and abnormal behaviour. The soul is then activating two aspects, which is being a survivor who is expected to operate by remaining polite about the acute abuse perpetrated on their soul without their consent, and the witness who wants to restore faith in others, to enable other victims to grow within their state of power, despite loss of self, despair, and the internal screaming from residual pain, internally within.
As a survivor and advocate for human rights I want to question how to preserve the ideal of civilization vs. speaking about how to survive within a broken civilization, where peace may not reside immediately. Peace is the core essence of our being and restores faith, where disillusionment from a fallen world may be aware. One must remain acutely aware of the systematic core root, which enables complicity, ignorance, or a lack of justice, as it erodes law enforcement’s efforts to preserve law, order, and peace. One must heal within the cracks of what has occurred, and remain open to the revelations to what causes physical exhaustion, depletion, and glitches behind the mask. Beyond the cracks of the foundation, we cannot place fondant or epoxy over what has become embedded, as a source of conditional responses or normative culture. Systematic abuse erodes justice, depletes collective trust and unity, and by remaining behind a wall of in-accountability, lack of transparency, or apathy due to ignorance, reconciliation may not be possible to heal future souls who wish to address the root of perpetration. Society must operate within the state of unity consciousness, which promotes global peace, rather than seeking a performative false sense of stability, by blaming a victim, who has experienced torture or great measures of harm, by criticizing their inability to stand up against their oppressor, or undermining their attempts to seek help by calling them… “vexatious,” or “callous” in their intent. Unfounded does not mean untrue.
We live in an era of performative stability. We are often aware of global crises, social collapse, or personal trauma, yet we are required to maintain a curated, polite version of ourselves, within our internal private lives, and external environments within the public domains. Civilization is now facing a struggle to remain civilized, in a world that feels increasingly savage or unnatural in essence. To give into the state of warfare is to build upon scorched earth. One is often encouraged to remain silent about what has occurred to protect their honour, character, or integrity however, by remaining aware yet courteous becomes a paradox within itself, as it causes cataracts on the lens of fragmentation and fragility. One cannot remain within the state of complicity, as direct and indirect conflict causes irreversible destruction and chaos at the core root.
A survivor understands the horrors of war, yet becomes a diplomat, who embodies peace and restorative mechanisms of recovery, to help others within the similar state of peril. What have we become that a life is seen as worthless, unessential, unvalued, or unworthy of protection, respect, or honour? Survivors, who are encouraged to remain silent, often not only bear the weight of the act of destruction but are encouraged to prevent the inner chaos from leaking out of fear of, “what will people say?” Many women and men are often encouraged to remain in situations, which have become toxic, unstable, or intolerable just to maintain the appearance of perfection. Grace under pressure becomes like tempered glass, which is immensely strong under pressure but likely to shatter at a specific vulnerable point.
It is crucial that one’s supportive network does not operate from a place or stance of judgment, as a survivor is struggling to make sense of the abnormal forms of violence, which are not natural. Perpetrators seek to uncover the flinch, the break within the armour, the gasp, the look of terror, or to achieve moral outrage, where the survivor will be forced into silence because an abuser operated within the margins of what they could operate with. A survivor must learn to not descend into the darkness of an oppressors will. A survivor has learned, how to acutely not allow their fragmented world to fall apart, as they had to rebuild their structure from the inside out, addressing the parts that remain unseen. A body is not meant to be conquered; it is to be respected, loved, and cherished.
Beyond the mask of trust, one must address the paradoxes that have become the norm. A survivor must choose to remain alive and honour their order and dignity, beyond the forms of destruction. Ethicality, morality, justice, discernment, honour, integrity, and peace are all values which must not be compromised. Often survivors will compartmentalize their traumatic awareness, away from their social daily lives, to survive the projected hate, undermining intent, or judgements which prove to be cruel from others. The fragility is the thin line they walk to keep those two pieces of themselves from colliding. A survivor becomes the archetype of peace, as their mask demonstrates their truth, as their trauma holds many layers to the unseen eye.
A perpetrator may seek to break one’s spirit at their most vulnerable times however, a survivor’s fragile partition becomes their opportunity to reinforce new concepts, views, and adopted strengths from their extracted wisdoms and lessons from the circumstance endured. Control is not love, and love does not enable restriction, conditions, or mere tolerance. Performative masks becomes a defensive shield where a survivor will not be open about what resides underneath, they are just expected to regain a semblance of peace, as the constructed, societal narrative, reinforces at times, that, “it has always been this way.” Survivors must confront their fragmented memories to interrogate what has caused loss, grief, and profound sadness. One must embrace a slow and steady breath to regain their composure.
Survivors are adaptive, resilient, and acutely understand the acts of violence and rituals of courtesy, as a core survival mechanism. A survivor must acutely reclaim their power, peace, and sovereignty by addressing the fragmentation of their traumatic experiences. One must understand that projected cruelty is an attempt to undermine one’s sovereign state. Beyond the isolation, the shattering, suffering, whimpering cries, one must refuse to reengage in the acts of cruelty, chaos, wreckage, and endless destruction which causes psychological, emotional, mental, and physical damage. Through acknowledgement, one attains acceptance, and through that form of emancipation, one then achieves salvation through the act of forgiveness.
Peace seeks to build new structures, rather than remaining within the narrative of being polite, curious, or complacent to what is often unseen or unsaid. Fragmented realities demonstrate, where the shatters and cracks reside within an individual’s psyche within their environmental landscape. The silence of the room is a psychological blow behind the wall of silence. A survivor must remain strong, stoic, and honour their sacredness within peace. Beyond the shaking, tremors due to fright and fear, one must examine their microscopic fractures, within their internal essence to understand where the soul needs to heal, restore, and receive realignment. One must address the disconnect between allowance to survival. Within the moments of abuse, there is a distinctive timeline of a collapse, where one is no longer in the present but remains a fragment of the past self. To move from fragmentation to integration, is the movement where a victim recognizes that they have witnessed unspeakable horrors however, they inevitably must become the architect of their own grace. The mask must fall and shatter to unveil and unearth what resides behind the stonewalled expression of silence. One must cease to hide their damaged or imperfect fragments, and instead incorporate them into their whole identity. Within the shift, power emerges. A survivor must make the conscious choice, to live beyond the trauma. One must not become what they fight, and must seek alternative measures to achieve sustainable peace within. One must transform their life, from that of fragility, to becoming pliant that is flexible, mutable, and that can withstand any form unprecedented aggression.
Survivors carry the knowledge of their attacks like a burden or weight however, it must represent an arrow within their quiver. One must consciously choose how they will proceed and lead their life. By confronting aspects of the self which demonstrate fragility and fragmentation, one then does not live in an isolated separate state from their environment, where they remain shattered or hide due to shame, guilt, or masking. One must build a foundation that prevents collapse, and choose the mechanisms of healing to achieve integration and spiritual transcendence, through transformation. One must become the peace they seek, through the power of conscious choice by choosing differently, while learning cohesively through the acts of others. By maintaining grace, one cannot break one’s inherent humanity within. One must remain a fragile glass or porcelain vessel and adopt the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where one restoratively repairs their broken aspects and cracks which are visible. We are strong from having been broken and shattered, as it enables the light to penetrate within. One must achieve freedom from suffering not by ignoring the forms of destruction, suffering or state of powerlessness deprived by fear but by reclaiming one’s power and purpose through the act of peaceful responses. Shattering enables the soul to confront the mosaics from the void. One must seek to become resonate and become the voice of change through acts of peace. We are a collection of our fragments and within those lines, where we were broken, it reveals where the line was inevitably drawn where one consciously chooses light over darkness, and no longer remains in silence or isolation, as one’s truth is more powerful than any sneer.
One must remember, that through the power of acceptance one attains and ascertains forgiveness for the unforgivable acts of violence and once a soul has become broken, and still chooses restorative peace, their act of will becomes indestructible courage, which cannot be offset by fear or intimidation. One must accept that shattering becomes a precious gift from the Universe to reclaim one’s narrative, truth, power, and autonomous sovereignty over the forms of destruction cast upon an innocent victim.
The role of advocacy seeks to re-humanize a world that tried to de-humanize others. One must stand proudly highlighting their fractures rather than hiding, masking, or struggling to change complicity. Complicity is an embedded vice like greed, pride, and ego, where one condones the act of injustice, as their malice and vicious intent eclipses their mind from restorative justice. By operating from the stance of stoic sovereignty, one then achieves internal peace. One cannot be led by force, aggression, or restriction within the confines or projections of abuse. Within the state of release, one then lets go of their destructive environment and consciously chooses peace over chaos. We often feel we need an apology, but in essence, we need to forgive ourselves for what we did not understand or acknowledge as factual truth. Self-mastery is then the art that enables exploration of the soul where acute fragility is confronted, rather than remaining in an iron grip. One must seek to detach from the energetic frequency of destruction to embody liberating peace. To obtain a new source of awareness one must integrate the fragments of their life, as our truth is revealed within the stages of metamorphic catharsis and healing. A survivor must move beyond holding the edges of the pieces of the mosaics of their life, hoping that others will not recognize the cracks. Our scars, tears, and fragments demonstrate profound change, strength, and perseverance. Our mosaics are whole but sacred, and even within the realm of fragmentation; one must not patch their essence while living within the state of fear. Avoiding conflict is not possible within the state of uncertainty, the unknown, or within unprecedented times. Only through the firm understanding of what conflict, violence, and chaos entails, does humanity restore its collective fragments to become whole again, through the acts of peace and reconciliation. What is compartmentalized within must be confronted and addressed, in order to reclaim one’s personal agency. Integration must be an act of grace, not reside through the force of fear.
When a survivor is met with ostracization, they experience a second term in a sense of humiliation, devaluation, and degradation. When a survivors expectations for peace dissolves, so too is their faith and joy. A survivor is only as strong as their support network, which provides acute assistance in their time of need. A survivor must never question their community or family that they expected to protect them. When social freezing turns the motionless winter into an external reality, the survivor then experiences profound loss and sense of powerlessness which effectively locks the bell jar from the outside. A wall of silence or the forms of ostracization is often a defensive move by a group to avoid the discomfort of the truth or the reality of what complicity and apathy entails. By casting the survivor out, the group attempts to purge the trauma, so they can return to a false sense of normalcy. To the survivor, this feels a sense of exclusion which may reinforce their deepest fear that they are damaged, a burden in need of remedy, or a liability. Isolation often results when one’s support networks deem their situation to be, “too much,” or an, “inconvenient truth,” which must be “addressed at a later date.”
Survivors are often silenced because their presence forces others to confront their own failures, to protect or intervene. When silence emerges due to apathy, indifference, complicity, allowance, tolerance, and judgement, the survivor then experiences victim shaming, blame, and shunning through the wall of ignorance. Shifting the fault or blame to the survivor, maintains the illusion that bad things only happen to bad people. My attacker once stated to me, “What did I do so bad to God, that brought him into my life to punish me?” Within the absence of one’s support group, trauma is then relegated and dealt with like a problem, rather than an injury. Re-traumatization causes further isolation and dysfunction to the nervous system due to abandonment, loss, and blame. Ostracization triggers the same brain regions as physical pain. For someone already in a state of catatonic immobility, being cast out confirms, the freeze response is necessary. Without a social mirror to reflect their worth, the survivor may retreat further into their doll-like state to survive the coldness of isolation. The antidote to ostracization is finding a community that can hold the truth, without shattering. Connecting with others who have faced similar winters, through organizations which advocate for humanitarian rights and sustainability can break the isolation.
Soul tribes or guardians of the light may enter into a survivor’s domain, as a form of universal support through the measures of initiatives, care, advocacy, and protection. Breaking the silence enables all to identify the fragments which offer the power of choice to move beyond the circumstances into a state of restorative peace. Shields often become micro forms of boundaries. Survivors acutely learn that what is held within, in terms of silence, will then start to manifest within the body. Therefore, speaking one’s core truth liberates and causes emancipation from destruction within. Survivors then recognize that peace acts as the glue that keeps and maintains one within the present moment which prevents one from entering into dissociation from past traumatic memories. Trauma, for a brief moment, strips away and chips metaphorically at one’s sense of worth, and erodes the joy that once was viewed as comfort and safe. Reclaiming one’s sovereign power enables self-reconnection which enables light to fill the internal cracks or ruptures within.
By addressing one’s source or root cause of trauma and shame, one then acknowledges their past residual memories through the lens of acceptance, rather than as shards which cut deep within the intricate layers of one’s foundational, core structure. Often, many survivors will initiate an isolation measure to hide, to survive from their reality or truth of the matter, due to external or internal judgement, shame, ostracization, or survivor’s guilt. Our moments of weakness reveal great strength, as the soul rises again to recognize their beautiful unique story of survival. Within incremental time, one must move toward the state of integrating their fractured self to reveal the conscious state of wholeness. One must become an archetype of restorative peace and reclaim their life by addressing what causes illness within. Through the act of sacred boundaries and discernment, one then learns mechanisms and methods to prevent perpetrators and oppressors from invading their psychological space. Our frequency must cease to radiate tension, hate, animosity, or resentment for what was perpetrated by another. One must not seek to deflect or project their anger but rather address what causes internal disconnection, detachment, and distance within the self. Love does not mean or constitute endless compliance or tolerance to unethical treatment or confined restraint. One must consciously choose which direction they wish to proceed within life. A survivor oscillates by recognizing how far one may push their ethical boundaries however, within another sense, one then learns through unconditional love and acceptance how fragility can be healed through the act of trust and vulnerability. Accepting love when the soul feels pillaged and drained is not about a sudden leap of faith; it is a slow process of restoring your internal essence, so it can eventually sustain a connection again. When one reinforces the narrative of the world is unsafe the nervous system will remain within the state of survival mode viewing intimacy as a threat, rather than a refuge.
To move forward, a survivor must transition from protecting their sacred fragments to integrating them, to become whole and unified again. By rebuilding self-trust, practicing presence, and accepting love in an unconditional form, the soul then restores its faith and trust in its ability to protect itself again. The core issue is the rebuilding phase of one’s moral ethical and moral integrity while learning discernment to reinforce one’s ethical moral judgement. Before one can fully trust another, they must trust the self. Commitment to one’s wellbeing demonstrates a conscious effort to remain reliable to the self while listening to the body. Reconnecting with the physical self through the forms of grounding, alignment, and balance, one then attunes to what is surfacing beyond the external projections and learns to honour one’s intuitive nature to decode or decipher when a physical or psychological threat is apparent. Through the act of engagement, one can enter into a state of openness, where vulnerability becomes the keystone to learn that intimacy does not have to be overwhelming. One must protect their energy, and their nervous system, through small interactions, which retrain and teach the soul, how not to become consumed, drained, or exhausted by another presence. Human interactions restore trust, in the form of collaborative efforts, where assistance is seen as safe. One must learn to act without judgment, to embrace expressive care, to practice listening to their internal dialogue and words, while decoding what is surfacing, at pivotal moments, within the body, without judgement or ridicule.
Within the period of recovery, a soul may reach a state of exhaustion or deprivation. True recovery from deep emotional pillaging requires time to reach and achieve a baseline where trust feels natural, rather than forced. The soul must reconstitute itself through rest, reintegration, and healing. Vulnerability is not a weakness, it is strength revealed. It takes great courage to establish boundaries, to protect one’s sacred peace, to confront the pain which resides within, without judgement, ridicule, or scorn, and to trust the process of universal direction to handle uncertainty with grace, love, and trust. Accepting love, when the soul feels pillaged and drained is a quiet, internal emancipation from destruction. It requires moving from a survival-based mechanism, keeping the peace to avoid harm, to an integrated grace, choosing connection while holding your boundaries firm. The brain must start to distinguish safety from a threat within the present state, while seeking those who respect your state of healing by assisting in addressing your fragmentation by providing safety, space, and tools to reclaim your sovereignty, peace, and inner calmness. With consistency, accountability, and non-judgement, the soul must validate feelings without trying to minimize them. Healing requires incremental time to reach a solution. A survivor then learns to acutely measure safety by observing actions beyond words and to scan for shifts in tonality or aggressiveness. Boundaries honour one’s sacred space within. Trust must be built within small moments through respect and acceptance. Kindness enables unconditional love to take root. Survivors must begin to acknowledge how they react to their own pain and needs. Learning to love the self again is an essential ingredient, which enables the soul to move beyond the state of destruction, as the self now engages in the act of self-love and self-respect without seeking validation from sources which may have, within the past, become misaligned constructs of distorted divine feminine and masculine roles, or attributes. The soul does not have to be perfect to be loved.
Healing trauma that has been deeply concealed from society requires moving beyond performative stability, into internal integration. This process is not about fixing what is broken, but rather bringing and retrieving fragmented aspects, sensations, emotions, and sacred meaning, back into a cohesive relationship within the self. One must move from concealment, to internal integration. When the soul hides its pain to maintain social courtesy, it is essentially reinforcing fragmentation to take root at another rate. Spirituality involves integrating the parts of the self, that were exiled to stay safe. One must acknowledge the fragmentation within, and recognize which aspects are concealment of the pain, or the embodiment of the pillaged or exhausted soul.
Trauma is a natural survival response to abnormal and acute pressure, tension, modes of destruction, and chaos cascaded onto an innocent victim. Trauma is not a flaw, it is a symptomatic response to cruel acts of hate, injustice, and intolerance. Survivors must share their stories, which provide a mechanism and avenue to release the weight of the trauma from the mind to actively help another during their similar struggles. Advocacy enables a survivor to speak their truth and observe their thoughts as an author, rather than a victim. Reclaiming one’s sovereign autonomy is about reclaiming one’s mind, body, and soul. Trauma often leaves the soul drained because the nervous system is stuck in a state of high alert or shutdown. By focusing on bodily sensations from each chakra, one then releases the pain of stagnation and the weight of past residual memories to a state of salvation through forgiveness for what one can no longer control. Essentially placing trust in universal direction, guidance, and nurturance through its divine intervention, enables the soul to release the residual energetic frequency of the past in a calm, spiritual, manner without re-living the memory or reactivating the past closed cycle.
A survivor does not have to remain within a pillaged state forever, as they become awakened guardians of the light for others through their acts of strength. A survivor must unfreeze and reprocess traumatic memories to prevent the chaos of projection from their present emotions. Mindfulness anchors and becomes a divine expression of love for the self and others. By challenging and confronting what has become intolerable, unsustainable, and unmanageable one then speaks about their unspeakable truths with clarity. One must always bridge the gap, between what is concealed within the depths of the soul, and the projected image that maintains the façade, or the illusion of “just get over it.” Grace enables the soul to be able to navigate tough terrain despite feelings of internal immense pain, resentment, isolation, shame, guilt, grief, despair, and anger. A survivor must bear in mind that healing enables the soul to release what can no longer be sustained and the soul is not meant to remain within the perpetual cycle of where it is drained by keeping the pieces together. Internal conflicts within the soul must reach a peaceful resolution to enable forgiveness to become a restorative and rehabilitative force. Connection counters isolation, and enables one to stand in their divine truth with purpose and determination.
One must question, what does a simple peaceful life look like? Has anger deformed the internal character from what was before? What does happiness and liberation appear like? When one restores their internal trust, faith, and reclaims their inner joy beyond the noise, the state of expansion facilitates a space where one can reflect, connect, heal, and progressively move to another state of enlightened expansion. Transformation is painful and change engages the mind to recognize that familiarity, comfort, and the known, causes complacency and reliance, on what was, rather than what ultimately is.
Endurance in the face of ruthless destruction enables the soul to achieve or maintain peace at an unprecedented rate. The soul is a multidimensional, multifaceted, and within its sacred essence transformatively transcends beyond the spiritual, philosophical, and emotional contexts. As it sacred essence is reincarnated in several periods of time. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict but an inner state or a long-term goal attained through resilience, compassion, and sometimes, painful endurance. Divine peace is attainable despite hardships such as injustice, imprisonment, danger, persecution, and abuse. Peace is the divine gift that guards the collective’s hearts and minds, which enables all to endure destruction while maintaining a connection to a higher purpose based in a humanitarian intent through the form of advocacy, enlightenment, and awareness.
Resilience enables growth as endurance and perseverance enable strength which transforms pain into a catalyst for growth. Rather than being destroyed by adversity, one can navigate the hardships, obstacles, and challenges, clear a path, which awakens and reveals deeper core truths that foster and promote personal growth, expansion, evolution, and transformation. One must maintain strength as challenges require immense courage to maintain a loving, peaceful state when faced with betrayal or chaos. One must seek not to suffer in conflict but to seek restorative alternatives, which enables peaceful resolutions, reconciliation, and justice. To overcome self-destruction, trust and peace requires a survivor to overcome internal destructive tendencies, patterns, and mechanisms which causes the soul to remain within a cyclical pattern or nature. One must seek to engage in the process of breaking the cyclical nature of fear and pain, by refusing to retaliate, to rediscover and find inner strength and justice within rather than seeking vengeance externally. What one holds onto, metastasizes within the body in a spiritual sense.
Enduring destruction requires a shift from viewing oneself as a victim of circumstances to becoming a proactive archetype of peace, where the conscious soul then relies on its inner strength, faith, and trust to rise above the chaos. Seeking peace, amidst ruthless, merciless, destruction is not the absence of conflict, but a resilient internal state forged through endurance and spiritual grounding. Resilient peace is achieved within chaos, even after the endurance of loss of support. Merciless and ruthless acts of destruction can serve to remove obstacles or false comforts that hinder true growth. Only when one experiences the mechanisms of warfare, does the soul truly honour and value the role of sustainable peace. Storms force one to clear a path towards a better life, through the grounding force of balanced alignment. One must confront how humanity fuels a lack of compassion, as all life is sacred and should be valued. What is the cost to humanity within the state of war? How many generations have to perish before reformative action is taken? One must refuse to mirror the rage or violence inflicted upon them. Healing begins by refusing to carry the weight of what others have done, choosing grace over revenge to remain internally stable. One must seek to preserve their faith, trust, alignment, balance, peace, and love by anchoring their light for others. Beyond the dichotomies of loss and gains, pleasure and pain, victim to survival, destruction of chaos to restorative peace, one must seek to understand why many remain complacent, in the face of ruthless acts of injustice and destruction. Perpetrators seek to cause internal ruin within their victims and erode the principles of responsibility to protect, which law enforcement and the justice systems enforce.
A survivor can teach others how to maintain peace during turbulence. One must ascertain the higher meaning, within their struggles to discern their divine purpose, mission, and path. Survival in the face of unimaginable destruction requires more than just physical endurance; it requires purpose. One cannot control external situations but can attain mastery of the mind beyond the chaos, destruction, and turmoil caused or projected by others. Destruction enables the soul to exit comfort into the state of uncertainty, where enlightened growth then becomes apparent. One must seek to find serenity and tranquility through order. One must remember that internal peace comes from aligning your soul with your highest values, even when the external world is in disorder. By acknowledging one’s reality with truth, love, and acceptance, erodes the state of resistance which causes stagnation and paralysis. Within the state of stillness, silence, and reflection, one can then reconnect with the inner conscious state of expansion, beyond the noise of chaos. Emotional distress is the root of the dichotomy of control. One must build their internal fortress to ensure resilience from external destruction. With determination and focus, one must reframe their perceptions and positions on healing. By reclaiming one’s power, one can then harness the ability to acutely observe their opinions, thoughts, actions, values, and reactions, while recognizing that external projections, from other sources of outer environments or noise, do not have to impact one’s internal perception, truth, or recovery. Projected hate is a reflection of another’s internal scorn for the self within, where another seeks to bring an individual down to their level to disturb their inner peace.
Trauma can become a self-inflicted wound, if it is reactivated or re-stimulated on a repetitive basis therefore, acting from a place of peace rather than judgement reduces suffering within, by seeking what is within the realm of control, versus a projection or external circumstance which seeks to destabilize, influence, or infiltrate the mind through conditional programming or alterations. One must not merely survive, but should seek to live. Tolerating abnormal experiences is just not enough. One must uncover and recognize the core, extracted, wisdoms from a circumstance or situation. By remaining within a state of sacred neutrality, one then removes the labels, constructs, or definitions, to observe with objectivity, rationalizing what has occurred, rather than responding from a state of fear. One must shift the focus from their pain to advocacy for others, which affords a greater unity through social connection. Survivors often observe what disturbs their internal peace within, and due to the harsh reality that they have become stripped of their power temporarily, having to rebuild their foundational core, one sequence at a time, within incremental steps.
Advocacy, writing, and seeking forms of healing becomes more than a survival mechanism, it becomes a restorative act of peace. When the world gets too loud or your internal monologue becomes too heavy to carry, putting it on paper enables the soul to recognize what causes pain within, or what pressure or tension, must be released. Therapeutic journaling or utilizing various forms of creative expression, bridges the gap between thoughts and the outside world, where one then externalizes their inner truth, rather than remaining within the isolated state of allowing pain to consume the soul. Expressive writing helps organize traumatic or complex emotions that may not have been given an outlet or voice to speak their inherent truth. Healing cannot be met with indifference or silence, it must be addressed. The loss of innocence, and the version of what used to be before surviving the brutal realities of harm, is the reality of what trauma embodies and evokes. Survival must turn into restorative peace and strength. One can be optimistic, pragmatic and battle-hardened underneath that external layer, of what the public sees.
The soul has to learn within the process of breaking cycles that it can be loved despite being imperfect. Purification of the soul enables one to recognize and learn that intimacy is not just a physical act, as it unveils and unearths core sacred truths, opening within a state of fragility, which blooms and blossoms in the state of vulnerability. One must not remain within the confines of the margins of the norm as true expansion enhances transformation to prevail. The soul can be strong and unyielding, hard and soft, emancipated yet confined within certain paradoxes or paradigms, and can reach emancipation from healing through the act of self-mourning, self-respect, self-love, and self-acceptance of what can no longer be controlled or changed. Survivors face a pragmatic hardened transformation which enables restorative peace and reconciliation with the self and others. The soul will endure many facets of pain and loss, however the conscious self must learn to master and survive within the state of unpredictability, uncertainty, and the unknown. We cannot control what is to become, and it is not the fault of failed protection but rather a learning experience to unmask what trauma embodies and produces within the internal state of the soul. The truest illustration of strength is the ability to remain perseverant while embodying adaptive resilience.
We are not our past, as we are the embodiment of the future, as we are the archetypes of peace and catalysts of change. Beyond survival and endurance one must seek restorative emancipation through peace. Beyond the mask of fragility we must ultimately strip away our layers to remain in touch with what causes disturbance within the soul. One’s reality can be based on grit and survival or it can consciously choose to be the embodiment of sacred peace. A survivor has endured the worst, remains grounded in reality, and is in touch with the sacred pulse of change. Love is not endless tolerance of pain, subservience, or restrictive, it must flow within the state of trust, compassion, empathy, and care. The prism of our lives demonstrate our need for self-preservation, the willingness to trust again through the sacred act of vulnerability which enables love, and the quest to redefine our narratives beyond the projections and act of others. Our souls must be guided by empathy to achieve peace. True restoration occurs when the glass wall of the bell jar is not shattered by force, but dissolved through the warmth of human presence. When one offers inclusion to the ostracized, they provide the spiritual space necessary, for a soul to stop merely surviving and start living again. The shift must begin by removing the metaphoric imagery of an immobile doll, back to a subject who is a person with agency, which requires a community that can help within the process of challenging the wall of silence, re-humanizing the victim into a strong survivor, and viewing a victim not as a broken horse or a project that requires taming but as a spirit to be honoured. Through the form of active reflective listening, the voice that was once silenced now demonstrates peaceful power which provides weight and meaning to others within similar circumstances or situations. When the community can bear witness to the acts of complicity, only then does the cycle of destruction come to light, as peace must be valued over the state of chaos. By choosing empathy over judgment, all can create a safe space that functions as a sanctuary, allowing the survivor to finally step through the looking glass and back into their own life. One does not have to embody perfection to be loved. All hold the power for great change.
ELISABETH BABARCI 