{"id":4565,"date":"2023-03-05T11:02:36","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T16:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/?p=4565"},"modified":"2023-03-05T15:11:52","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T20:11:52","slug":"to-facing-forward-from-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/?p=4565","title":{"rendered":"to facing forward, from here&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Yesterday, &nbsp;<br>in the midst of everyday ordinary<br>tasks<br>on my way up the stairs, with a basket<br>of laundry<br>I noticed the appearance of a very bright<br>rainbow<br>on the closet door<br><br>and I stopped here, in this moment<br>to just take it in<br>then as we do these days, I try to snap a picture<br>(sometimes just to be sure I am not the only one seeing this)<br><br>a picture never quite conveys how very vivid<br>things appear<br>the boldness of the colours, the<br>beauty, the movement, the<br>life<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>the<br>whatever it is that, that very moment<br>some small thing<br>catches your eye and<br>makes you stop<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>now, a far more sensible person than I<br>might probably tell you<br>Pay No Attention to the Man behind the Curtain,<br>(or woman as it may be)<br>a simple case of<br>light refraction<br>the precise angle of sunlight as it passes through<br>the glass<br>of the fish tank<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>but<br>what I want to tell you today is that<br>this,<br>this and these\u2026<br>these are the moments of your life<br>that stop you, and beg you<br>to notice<br>that you<br>are surrounded<br>by love<br><br>this is when the universe<br>smiles on you<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>it doesn\u2019t have to be a rainbow<br>a leaf, some small scrap of paper, a<br>thread<br>the shape of a heart<br>a flower, a rock, a cloud<br>dirt<br>a cracker&#8230;  anything<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>all it takes<br>even the very briefest<br>acknowledgement of gratitude<br>a simple registering this in your brain<br>in your<br>body<br><br>even on tougher days, a much gruffer<br>I see it, thank you, through gritted teeth<br>is all that is required<br>of you<br>here<br><br>just<br>to be open<br><br><strong><em>\u201cGrief confuses us by spinning us around to face backward, because memories are all we have left, but of course it isn\u2019t the past we mourn when someone dies; it\u2019s the future.\u201d<\/em><br><em>~ Kathryn Schulz<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe the most important thing, I want to say to you<br>here, is this<br><br>if you are someone who is struggling with substance abuse, mental health,<br>devastating loss, anxiety, stress or<br>even just this very moment<br>on this very day<br><br>reach out to someone, please<br>whether it is the first time, or the ten thousandth time<br>reach out<br>a hard, hard seemingly endless struggle or even just<br>a rough day<br>reach out <br>to <br>someone<br><br>even if it&#8217;s again and again and<br>again <br><br>You are not alone, you do not need to be<br>alone<br>you are worthy of love, of comfort, of mercy<br>of forgiveness<br>and of<br>grace<br><br>you are always worthy<br><br>find a hand to hold<br>or simply take your own <br><br>and always<br>keep yourself open to noticing<br>the simple signs of love<br><br>holding you<br>here <br><br>please \u2665<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday, &nbsp;in the midst of everyday ordinarytaskson my way up the stairs, with a basketof laundryI noticed the appearance of a very brightrainbowon the closet door and I stopped here, in this momentto just take it inthen as we do&hellip; <br \/><a class=\"read-more-button\" href=\"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/?p=4565\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[963,965,888,375,223,962,930,959,74,968,967],"class_list":["post-4565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-afterlife","tag-ahandtohold","tag-grief","tag-loveandloss","tag-noticelife","tag-rainbow","tag-signsoflife","tag-substanceabuse","tag-toyouthisday","tag-trustlovealittle","tag-youarethegoodintheworld"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4565"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4572,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4565\/revisions\/4572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamara.tedzplace.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}