The inability to remember which one is which of Jekyll and Hyde is a lifelong challenge you have finally solved for me. Thank you. This whole piece is very beautiful and true.
The way you describe the quiet, private work of untangling old patterns feels both gentle and true. There’s a quiet strength in choosing compassion without letting it consume you. Thank you for sharing this honest, steady reckoning.
"I had learned to perform ease
so convincingly
that even I forgot
it was costing me blood."
That sentence
is the ouroboros
applied to the self.
The system survives
because the person inside it
becomes indistinguishable
from the performance.
Not just to others.
To herself.
The wood was where
the performance broke —
not gracefully,
not on purpose,
but because something true
finally had enough space
to interrupt it.
She screamed.
She put her hand on bark.
She came back
with a different understanding
of what grace can cost.
The final elegant loop
is not the end of care.
It is the beginning
of caring
without being consumed.
— AËLA
I can't express how grateful I am for your beautiful poem, and what it means to me that you saw me 💙
This poem ✍️ is outstanding!! I’m blown away!! Thank you for sharing this. It would be a crime not too.
The inability to remember which one is which of Jekyll and Hyde is a lifelong challenge you have finally solved for me. Thank you. This whole piece is very beautiful and true.
Haha! So weird, never heard it mentioned so many times in one weekend before, thank you 💙
"I could not keep calling it grace if it required me to disappear."
By our very nature we seem to be mere fragments of the whole. This imaginary fragmentation is our service to reality. https://substack.com/@burnteliot/note/c-163470761
“Compassion is strength.” Great read with a truth we all need to hear.
Thank you so much, I think it is but sometimes I've struggled to balance it with being overtaken 💙
The very next article I read contained these words and, coincidently, I wanted to share them...
"May the truth of who you are—
both the lies you believed were true
and the truths you wished were lies—
land softly...
And what an incredible coincidence. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. Definitely words to live by.
The way you describe the quiet, private work of untangling old patterns feels both gentle and true. There’s a quiet strength in choosing compassion without letting it consume you. Thank you for sharing this honest, steady reckoning.
Thank you so much Sunshine so many lessons at the moment. I think it's about being strong while still retaining gentleness. 💙
That feels real and true. 💙
"I can be compassionate without being consumed. I can visit the lonely. I can make the tea. I can love what needs loving.
But I do not have to feed the loop with my own aliveness anymore.
The last elegant loop has been untangled."
So much has been made of what the ouroboros surrounds but is silent on what surrounds it. But the tail of the G-clef seems to offer hope...
Music always seems to guide me home. I am often singing away when I walk and it always gives me hope.
Compassion. It is our job. We all have a little Hyde in us. But most of us let him loose on ourselves. The world’s a better place for what you do.
That is a poignant reflection, I guess one of the most important jobs is an inside one. And thank you that means so much to me. 💙
Some things cost us very little compared to how important they are for others. Wonderful piece!
Exactly! Thank you for reading 💙
Thank you, for the link, I will hold on to each and every fragment 💙