Safe Spaces - Ocean
For those who are new here and do not know, I’m a complex trauma survivor. I’ve found art to help with healing. Being such a visual person means I have to look at something calming in order to feel a sense of safety in my body. We do this little exercise in EMDR therapy called Safe Place, and at first I may have possibly laughed. I didn’t think just imagining a safe place would help my brain to relax. But over time, and with something to focus on visually, and something to listen to while focusing on the art, it became a very helpful exercise. I wrote the creative writing piece to accompany the painting so that I was engaged both visually and auditorily which left less space for my brain to stay in danger mode. My husband did offer to record my writing for me so that I could have it readily available to listen to when I was in panic mode. But the catch was, he only agreed to record it in the voice of Gru from Despicable Me. Alas, I turned down his offer. But he still wanders around the house when I’m anxious talking in that voice as a way to help calm the nerves, and I must say, it is shockingly helpful to have humor just walking around like that. There is good to be found even in those really high anxiety moments, I just didn’t think in my case it’d be my husband’s character impressions.
He also offered to record it in a Kermit voice. Pause…sigh…this is my life.
On that note, below is the creative writing piece, and feel free to screenshot the ocean painting. Screen shot both to your phone and use as you need if you find it helpful.
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You’re at the beach. A private island. No one is here but you, and you are safe. Everything is OK. Feel your feet sink into the white sand, the warmth of the grains over the tops of your feet and between your toes. You lift a handful of sand and let it slowly fall back from the palm of your hand onto the ground, the calm breeze blowing the grains back down.
“How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the grains of sand. I awake, and I am still with You.” Psalm 139:18
The crystal clear turquoise water gently sweeps up over your feet, past your calves, then the low tide is gently pulled back into the deeps. Again, the blue water washes up, and back. Up, and back. Up, and back. You are safe as it washes over you.
The warmth of the sun is on your back and shoulders. Feel its heat radiating out, blanketing your skin. The warm breeze picks up. You feel it on your back, your arms, your hands, your legs. Feel the wind carry aimlessly the loose strands of hair around your face.The palm tree above you sways in this same breeze, its long leaves swaying out over the ocean as it bows low to touch the water.
You hear the sound of the water lapping on the edge of the sand, the small waves continuing their cycles of back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth. You look up past the edge and see the light on the teal water dancing, glistening, catching the sun and dancing like diamonds on the surface of the water. White lines lay calmly on the surface like delicate lace, changing, shifting, moving with the motion of the water, then dipping under the waves.
Feel the water still gathering at your feet. The water is warm and soothing. You stand and wade into its warmth, one slow step at a time, until it’s up to your waist. The ocean pulls and sways around your waist as you extend your hands out to lay only on the surface. You feel the water surround you, and the sun still warm on your neck. You breathe in the salty water air. Here, the clear water begins to deepen into teal, then turquoise, then almost emerald green. The waves continue to pull, but you stand firm, feet planted safely in the sand at the bottom of the ocean. You watch the waves curl up and splash gently over, pushing the water to the shore, and back again. To the shore, and back again, gently shifting around your body. To the shore, and back again. This sea of teal expands all the way to the horizon, nothing else in its waters but you. Shifting you gently back and forth, back and forth in its embrace.
“You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.” Psalm 89:9
Slowly, you wade back to the shore, and sit facing the blue water. The white lace pattern continuing to lay on the water's surface and the glistening diamonds still dancing on its edge. The water lapping back and forth over your feet. Your feet in the warm white sand. The sun drying your back. The gentle waves roaming back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.
“He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.” Psalm 107:29
