Sitting With The Shattered Soul

So how do you sit with a shattered soul?
Gently, with gracious and deep respect.
Patiently, for time stands still for the shattered, and
the momentum of healing will be slow at first.
With the tender strength that comes from an openness
To your own deepest wounding,
and to your own deepest healing.
Firmly, never wavering in the utmost conviction that
evil is powerful, but there is a good
that is more powerful still.
Stay connected to that goodness with all your being,
however it manifests itself to you.
Give freely. Take in abundantly.
Find your safety, your refuge, and go there as you need.
Words won't always come;
sometime there are no words
in the face of such tragic evil.
But in your own willingness to be with them,
they will hear you;
from soul to soul
they will hear that for which there are no words.
When you can, in your own time,
turn and face that deep chasm within.
Let go. Grieve, rage, shed.

Steele, K. (1987). Sitting with the shattered soul. Pilgrimage: Journal of personal exploration and psychotherapy, 15, 6, 19-25.

For support, talk to your partner, family, friends, an advocate at a sexual assault crisis center, or call the Virginia Family Violence & Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-838-8238(v/tty).