Simple pleasures for me are anchors. In a world designed to scatter us, these small pleasures are sacred tethers. The moment the sun hits the window just right on my oracle deck as I begin the day with a grounding message, or the steam rises from my first sip of coffee in a new card which is a luxury I am deeply grateful for each day. When I was doing integration therapy to heal inner parts of myself, I imagined a lake house. There was a key to this place I still symbolically keep in mind. It was a response to grief for leaving an imagined protector to my exile in story. I walked away from the lake house that night, away from fantasy that always kept me afloat, but never transmuted. And during that storm of integration, I didn't turn away. This immersion showed me the audacity of our inner system's languages. How we each "deal" every day. It amazes me still, as I help others work through their own healing. I would point to meditation or mindfulness as helpful habits to keep me curious and grateful - but it's not. It's now immersion stripped from dissociating fantasy, and an inner safe place that has brought me to design the moments of my life - and not just walked by them.
On May 27, 2025 Eric Hanneman wrote :