From 2017.
The Evolved Warrior is the archetype I use to identify the victim who has risen through the ranks of her pain to claim her power. (Or his. Men need this work too.)
She has fought hard every day of her life. She has gained strength that few appreciate. She has scars that few understand. She has compassion that few can match. There is no weakness in that face.
She no longer needs her armour. She has seen where it limits her. She feels safer in her own skin. Where she can feel the feedback from her body. But she is certainly not defenceless.
She has fought long and hard to be who she is now. Scars and all. They are assets now. They were the currency of wisdom that couldn’t be attained any other way.
The pain she overcame is not gone. It still arises. But she knows how to work with it now. (Although sometimes she forgets.) it is a conduit to moving forward, as much as it brings her to her knees. It is the raw material from which she builds every triumph.
Now she prefers not to fight. She has nothing left to prove. She has earned her status as a leader. It is time to claim what she fought for. Peace. Time to tend the wounds of yesterday. Set the pain free. Integrate the lessons. Acknowledge the growth.
Be grateful for all of it.
It is possible. Even necessary.
But she is still every inch a warrior. She wears her story on her face and on her body and in her very demeanour. And she will use that story to bring peace to those who will listen. And the sword to cut herself free from the cords of those who try to keep her smaller than she yearns to be, to preserve their own “safety”.
This is who we become when we allow ourselves to heal from our trauma. This is who I help people to be.
After the talking work and the self development (the work of the mind), must come the work of the body, the emotions and the nervous system. We release the toxic load, liberate ourselves from the old stories, integrate the mental work and restore balance to the whole.
Want to know more? Reach out.
PSA
You can’t let yourself be naked in a room full of people still wearing their armour. (By naked I mean your vulnerable, raw, honest, authentic self.)
If the other people in the room are not prepared to let go of their defensive garments, then you will either be forced to begin armouring yourself again or you will start gathering bruises from theirs. You may need to find a new room.
There is always work to do and decisions to make on the healing journey. Sometimes, healing is just the beginning. Choose a guide that knows the terrain.
Much in life is traumatic. What if could be healed gently and compassionately? With whispers instead of screams?