Mary Oliver, in her poem In Blackwater Woods, offers this fierce and tender instruction for being human: To live in this world, you must be able to love what is mortal, hold it close as if your life depends on it, and when the time comes to let it go……
Every year as the holidays get closer, a familiar theme shows up in therapy sessions: “My family is so toxic.” “I just need to survive the visit.” “Being around my relatives sends me straight back into trauma.” The language of toxic family relationships, trauma, and nervous system collapse has become…



