What’s Inside The Box-Episode 2

Welcome my friend. Welcome to the window. Close your eyes, see your face pressed against the cool glass. Listen to the gentle rain  falling.   Falling on the roof, dropping from the leaves. Take a deep breath. You are safe, you are here and it is ok it ok now to feel what you need to feel?

 So, Where does it hurt?

Bring your attention to your breath. Gently like the swaying of the trees outside, breathe in…hold…breathe out. Again, with me, breathe in…hold…breathe out. 

Where does it hurt?

Let your thoughts drift to that inner room of your soul where you keep the things that are too painful, too raw for the everyday eyes. What is inside the box in the middle of this room? Give yourself permission to consider the presence of this box.  Lower your shoulders. Rest your back gently and securely in your space.  

The first step in healing is to be able to look. To acknowledge theres  pain. To hold the memory in the light. To be willing to release it from the box you have taped shut so tightly.

 Are you willing?

Feel yourself loosening the grip on the box, and allowing what’s inside just to be in  the light of this moment.

Place your hand over your heart, feel the beautiful rhythm of life beating…you are here…you are here…you…you..beautiful amazing, wonderful you.  (Thunder)

The pain, the memory, the emotions have not destroyed you . You are right here, companioned with courage, spirit,  strength.

Hear over you the words of the ONE who created you. Who loved you before you were ever conceived, who called you by name before you ever entered your mother’s womb.

Bring it to me. This box. I know it is heavy. You have carried it for so long. Let me hold it.  I care for you. I want to help you bear this burden. You are not alone in the carrying. Lift it to me…put it in my hands….I am strong enough.  Let’s look at it together.

The pain inside this box had meant to break your spirit , to snuff your creative light out of this world. But I didn’t let it. I have protected you with my sheltering wing.  You can trust my heart for you. I will never  take what little strength you have and break you further. I will not abuse you.

Where others have run away from you in your weaknesses, I pull you close. I have seen you at your worst, and I have loved you with a love that will never ever end.

Cry out to me. I will not ignore you. Nothing you have to say is unimportant to my heart. Let me hear the sound of you voice, and I will answer you in your distress.

I hear you ache with the longing for freedom, wondering how long this pain has to endure. I promise there is an expiration date. Everything has a time, and a place to begin and to end. I will bring beauty from the ashes of this destruction in you, come to me I have a deep rest waiting for you. You can trust my love to endure forever.

Come to me. I know you are weary, I know it is heavy…l have rest for you…let me have what is hurting your soul.

Bring your thoughts back to your breath. Breathe in…hold…breathe out. 2x  

Are you Willing?   

Words For When It Feels Broken Inside-Episode 1

Words For When It Feels Broken Inside

A Soul Care Minute Meditation

©2022Christina Dammerman

Welcome.

You.

You, my friend are welcome here.  Feel space open for you to step into, out from, cold hard ice-ness. These words are for you a hearth fire gift of presence.

 I know. I know the long road of stones thrown at your soft heart flesh, I know what it is to  suffer word bruises that leave your soul along the side of the road, desperately needing healing oil, .these words are my offering of gentle coolness, to fevered brow. May you receive them as balm upon the open, jagged edges.

So,  You are safe now.  Quiet your mind and your will and your heart and your body….be still.  Close your eyes and open your heart. Open. Open your hands. Open.

Bring your thoughts to your breath – feel the sacred wind, the divine essence of life move in, then out. Breathe in deeply, now let go. Let your breath move out of you, and with it all the hot, moist memory of what you have been made to swallow as truth, but which you know…is not truth.  It’s not who you are.

 Breathe it out. Push your next exhaling breath with more force, be intentional like the wind shaking the tops of the trees…let them bow before the gale of your release.  Watch them in your mind…See them bend, sway, bend, sway and come back upright again.  Feel yourself as the trees. Feel the flexibility that comes from your rootedness…you will not break, you will not crash upon the ground, you will not bend forever, all storms run out of rain, eventually….

Bring your mind to focus again upon your breath. Breathe in hold breath out, breathe in, hold, breathe out…with each exhalation, bring your mind to focus on your body. Listen to your skin. Listen to where it is tight, weak, tender, hungry.

 Where are the weight of the words that were hurled upon you resting in your physical space?  Our body keeps the score…where does it hurt? Gently touch the area experiencing pain or tightness. Hold your space with kindness.  As you would cradle a child or a small infant who was needing care, needing comfort, who was scared, hold your space.

Lower your shoulders, sit, deeper into your seat, hips rooted downward, back resting supported. Press the soles of your feet gently upon the ground.  Move your toes back and forth gently…YOU ARE HERE. You have not disappeared. Envision a warm, soft blanket being placed around you. This is love. This is grace. This is peace, presence, spirit, knowing…This is love.

From this place of safety, grounded in loving presence. Receive over you these words of truth. Do not judge them, dismiss them, swipe them away….receive them for they are medicine for the fractured cells fighting to stay alive inside you, fighting to protect your  immune system, your organs, your mind, your emotions.  They are healing light against chaos.  Chaos comes when what was known becomes unknown, what was whole becomes fractured, what was loyal becomes betrayal what was light becomes darkness.

Together we go to the altar of the heart. Let us offer up these broken pieces, and wait for the Fire of Love to fall, and consume our offering.

Hear the words of LOVE that are truth. Spoken by the only ONE good and true. The Father of Lights, The Mighty Fortress and Buttress against the storms of this life. The ONE who is our rock of refuge and our hiding place. The Eternal Ageless ONE who has no shadow in HIM.  Father, Abba…GOD.

What was meant for evil against you, to harm you, I will turn it and cause it to be used for your good…yes…even that, and that….and that.

Trust in me, my character, my nature, my name…Come learn my voice. Let it be louder than the railing sound of your accuser…I won’t disappoint you. I won’t make you ashamed…ever. They tried to make me ashamed to, but I despised their shame and I sit now with all authority over every nation, tribe, man, woman child…Shame IS NOT YOUR PORTION.

You are my poem, written upon the palm of my hand, and I love to read it aloud so all of the galaxies in all of the universes can know how I feel about you, and add it to their eternal song.

You are never alone, I will never leave you, ever. I will not abandon you on the day you cry out for help.

I am closer to you than the blood that runs in your veins.

You take my breath away when you look at me, just one glance from your eyes filled with devotion and I am undone. Oh, how you move me. Do you know how beautiful, and powerful your love is?

 You have deep capacity for love-. that is why it cuts knife like when your love is rejected, scorned, mocked, un-returned. I know this. I too was wounded, mocked, scorned and rejected by those I gave my life to love. I can hold you in this place …I forgave their ignorance of my love. I can teach you to forgive. Let me hold you in this place.

Let me hear the sound of your voice. Don’t hide your pain, your tears, your cry from me….let me have it all. Let me wipe away every tear from your eyes and sustain you with my love.

I will bring joy to you out of your great sorrow. I promise there will always be dawn, after the blackest night. 

No weapon, of word or deed will succeed in destroying you.  You will rise up, again and again and again for I am with you. I am your defender.

Bring your thoughts back to your breath.  Feel the wind. Feel the life. Sense the stillness of your soul. Gently place your hand over your heart. Know this drum beat of existence. You are here. You are loved. You are whole. Stay quiet for a few more moments. Don’t rush to re engage your surroundings.  Move gently upward.  

Open your eyes. Breathe. Hello you. Beautiful…beautiful you.

Transcript of Soul Care Minute Video: I’m Listening Karen

Good afternoon friends. This is Christina jumping on here with the Soul Care minute this afternoon. I’ve had something on my heart for the last few days that I have just given it some time to settle in before I try and articulate it to you. I had the opportunity this weekend to sit across from a very beautiful dear friend and Soul Care client of mine as she just opened up about the things that were on her heart and what she was struggling with. And she expressed some deep sorrow over a situation that I had absolutely no idea was actually going on in our world today. My friend’s name is Karen. Karen shared with me that she has joined a couple of online support groups that have I believe at their height, the numbers were like 107,000 strong. This group exists to bring support and encouragement to those who bear the name. Karen. Evidently, this name has come according to the National Post to be the most hated girl’s name in the United States. What was the number one name in 1966 is now considered to be a social slur. I couldn’t believe this. I took some time and I did my own research and I was absolutely overwhelmed with what I found I was devastated actually. There’s a gal Her name is Heather Suzanne Woods and she’s a meme researcher for the University of Kansas State Kansas State University. Her job is to research memes their impact, their effect and  the origin, and she expresses a Karen this way she said Karen has come to represent or express entitlement selfishness a desire to complain. A Karen demands the world exists according to her standards with little regard for others and she is willing to risk or demean others to achieve her ends. That’s what Karen stands for these days. In my research, I discovered that the Karen Halloween mask is poised to become the number one most purchased mask for this Halloween. There’s a Karen horror movie, and there’s a church Karen on Tik Tok mocking the spirituality of of a Karen’s faith. There’s, there’s many more the list goes on you, I would encourage you to check it out for yourself.

But this woman that was sitting across from me, whom I have known for a very, very, very long time. She’s absolutely none of those things. She’s kind. She’s conscientious. She’s a businesswoman. She’s an advocate for the oppressed, and the marginalized. And she is probably one of the most humble and gentle women that I know. She shared with me that she has to preface her name with, I’m not that kind of Karen. So, as I have spent some time researching this, what is staggering to me is the amount of women right now who are having to change their names in order to get or even keep their jobs. Employers are refusing to hire them because of the backlash from their names that that the company could receive, because perhaps their CEO is named Karen, and they cannot withstand that type of social pressure. Ladies, we have worked so hard to have access to high paying jobs to have equality in the polls to have access to equal health care. How is this okay? Perhaps the most devastating though, is that a beautiful young woman who was named after her grandmother Karen, whom she adored and whom she loved, this woman took her life here in the Pacific Northwest our region. She had been extremely harassed by cyber bullying online and social media attacks, to the point where it pushed her over the edge and she took her life. This is not okay. something absolutely rose up in me and I felt enraged. And I also felt deeply saddened because I too, I too, have taken part in my own jesting slurs, and I’ve laughed at all of the memes and I’ve even shared the memes and I participated in my own wounding of my sisters across the nation. But today, I take my stand and I’m going to tell you no more.

I’m not here trying to impose my morality on you. But what I am doing is trying to bring a little bit of awareness of the pain that I personally firsthand have encountered,sitting across from me in the heart in the face of a very dear sister, and I want to reach my hand out to fellow sisters

So, I want to say to all, to all of the beautiful Karens out there, I am sorry for participating in your pain. As a women’s advocate, I want you to know that I will do my part in my sphere to bring awareness to bullying and to help stop this spread of violent dismantling of a very, very, very beautiful name.

What you are being judged for. So a woman who stands up and wants to speak to the manager, that was definitely one of the memes out there. I don’t know that I can fully say that I disagree with that. We’re in the decade of the  PEH in Hebrew, it’s called the PEAHit means the mouth. Many of you that have followed me and my teachings know that I love the Hebrew language because it’s a picture language. And it just, there’s so much that is said in Hebrew that we miss in English, but we’re in the decade of the mouth.

 Makes me wonder with as much division as there is over opinions right now. Perhaps the enemy knows that we as women have something very transformative to say in this decade, and he is trying to shut our mouths before we can even open them. To shut your mouth Karen! What is the Holy Spirit whispering to you in the season? What truth is designed to come from your mouth, to come from your name?

 So on that note, I did some digging and lo and behold wouldn’t you know there it is, perhaps a hint as to why there is so much outrage at your name. So this is for you. Karen Do you know who you are? The name Karen originated as a Danish name. And it arose from the Greek word, Ekaterina, which is derived to mean-are you ready for this? Purity. Pure. Kaja and Katherine are both related Danish names. And in the French the name can also mean clear like translucent. But the name pure ,translates across all backgrounds as the meaning for the word Karen. Hmm. Do you think perhaps that the enemy of our souls, desires to demolish anything, anything that represents purity, hope, light beauty. Your name at its root stands for translucent, nothing hidden authenticity, that can tear the kingdom of darkness down at its core. That’s what your name means. That’s what you’re actually walking under. That’s what people are declaring every time they say your name, Karen not even realizing it. The enemy does though. What is it that the Beatitudes  said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God! That’s your inheritance  purity.

It’s beautiful. So it’s no wonder that this is onslaught has come right now when our nation is so fractured and divided and filled with such wounded hearts desiring to protect themselves at all costs that another’s humiliation is their reprieve. No, no more. Karen, you’re beautiful. Your name is a banner of hope for this nation. It’s an anthem that we as faith filled women should rally under. Purity in our thoughts purity in our actions, purity in our intent.

So ladies, we have to learn to defend and to protect each other we have to learn to celebrate and console. And remember economically, ladies, we our gender, we are still the biggest influencer in the markets. It’s not okay for anyone to exploit one of us, not one of us. So I want to wrap it up with a question. So let me ask you something. I want you to just pause for a moment. Im going to make a few statements and I want you to do this this exercise, with me to do it intentionally. I want you to put your name in place of the Karen meme. And I want you to feel it. I want you to feel it. What it sounds like when your name is slurred.

Don’t be a

or shut up.

Or just go kill yourself.

 Put your name at the end of those statements. Hear that on a daily basis? How does that make you feel?

The Karen’s across this nation. Those beautiful women who bear this name, they’ve had to deal with this on a daily sometimes multiple times a day basis. You put your own name in there does that bring that pain home just a little bit can You touch it now?

The fact that some of our sisters who are already struggling with mental health challenges took that last meme: that just go kill yourself. And she took that seriously. she followed through that, that will never be okay with me. So I just want to encourage you to not- to not- if this is if this is something that you’re-

 if you’re a beautiful Karen sitting across from me right now, in this digital moment, do not let the wounding of this slur of your name fester into a place of bitterness. Please hear me. I have found that words spoken from a bitter heart do not bring life in any context. You have a deep fellowship with your Savior. In this remember, Jesus is still the most used curse word in our language. And His name, it means salvation. So turn to him, He knows your pain, He can offer you deep and intentional wisdom. And He can offer you comfort, that passes your understanding. I want to invite you to just pop over to my website, it’s http://www.soulcare.me. I’ll also put it in the link of this video.

Please subscribe to my updates, I’m going to be posting some resources in the coming days. They’re going to be geared to helping all of us in our ongoing understanding of who we are, there’s going to be resources of encouragement and hope.

 You know, we are all created for a purpose. We were created by design. We have a destiny, from the Masters hand to bring great joy and deep satisfaction to us and to the world in which we live. There’s so much more to us than we have ever even tapped into and I want to journey with you. Through that. I want to give you  some support tools to help you in this season of great battle and great difficulty. So let’s live that life together. Karen , I want you to know that I’m listening. I’m listening. Be blessed today my friends