Welcome home. I'm Dr. Tama, a minister, licensed psychologist and sacred artist.

From this is Homecoming, a podcast to facilitate your journey home to yourself.

While I will provide weekly inspiration and mental health tips, this podcast is not the same as personalized therapy.

I'm so excited you're on the journey. If you want to request specific topics or to submit a poem for me to read on the podcast,

email me at homecomingpodcastsatgmail.com. Also to build our community, don't forget to like, subscribe and share. Let's begin.

Welcome home co-journers. I'm glad you're here for another episode. And I'm appreciative we have a poem submission for this week.

And this poem comes from Raven Wilkerson. And the poem is entitled Shade.

I was in the eye of the storm for so long. I became used to fighting the strong winds and downpours.

One day the sun appeared. A strong sun. One like I had never experienced before. But I couldn't embrace it like I wanted to.

My eyes couldn't take how bright it was. My skin wasn't prepared for the rays. All I wanted was some shade.

I needed a place where I could protect myself from the heat of the sun, but still enjoy its warmth.

A place where I could feel the energy of the sun, but not spiral out of control. A place where I could feel the pull of the sun on my body, but not feel stagnant.

Most importantly, I needed a place where I could feel peace and welcome it. I needed shade.

Oh, so beautiful, Raven. Thank you so much. This is a really powerful poem.

And it reminds me of working with trauma survivors, especially those who have experienced long-term trauma.

And when goodness shows up, it can be overwhelming. It can be disorienting.

As you said, you know, still wanting to connect with that sunshine and also feeling at, not at ease, in the presence of that affirmation, in the presence of even positive attention in the presence.

Of those who see and know. And you name this so beautifully in terms of wanting the exposure to this new, beautiful possibility.

And at the same time, you described it needing some shade. So needing perhaps it to slow down, needing patience, needing compassion, needing understanding of that adjustment process.

That is just a wonderful description of the nuance, right? And so I invite you all to reflect, as Raven has given us this piece, what has it been like for you, shifting out of unhealthy circumstances to healthy, shifting out of dysfunctional patterns to functional patterns.

I think about a job that I had, which was just a mess, you all, this job was ridiculous.

And so then when I shift it from one job to another, it was important for me to be able to detox, right, to be able to release, to even take an extended sacred pause.

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