Tag: blog

• I have listened.

  I had a wise voice talk to me, reminding me of the lay of the land or the overview of us all talking on the blogs, and that there is room for everyone.

  Her message struck me as totally on target, and I could see how there are folks who are not ready to say their name, to be ‘out’ here like I am.

  That in order to talk to them, I may have to duck back in and speak in the dark, until they feel okay to meet with me ‘out’ here.

  I had used the term, “being in the closet” and it does sometimes feel that there are not only abused people hiding in there, too afraid to talk about their abuse, but it seems too that there are abusers hiding there as well.

  Meaning under the cloak of secrecy, and for different reasons, they are all hiding who they really are.

  What I failed to appreciate is that while I am trying to yank them out here to be with me, I need to meet them half way. 

  It is not helpful to be forceful.  Our tug-o-war was getting us nowhere.

  While I am yelling louder they are shrinking further back and that isn’t what I wanted this blog to be about.

  I do want it to be a place for all.

  My fear was speaking to the unknown. But you have reasons I can’t know.  And if I want to hear your side, I must allow you to be in the dark.

  The trick here is to speak from our side and not assume the others position.

  If we position each sentence or feeling with the word “I”.

  With you feeling safer in hiding and me feeling safe in full view, we can figure a way to work together. 

  I recall reading in a book about the caterpillar changing into a butterfly, if you force it to leave the cocoon too soon, its wings will be too wet to fly and it will die.

  We all fly in our own time.  I apologize for my loudness and empathic words and shouting about my journey…And me not realizing you will open the door on your journey in the right and perfect time for you.

  I have been told and I have listened…

   

   

  September 5, 2011

  blog, FALC, I, journey, listen, our, own, pace

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• I have listened.

  I had a wise voice talk to me, reminding me of the lay of the land or the overview of us all talking on the blogs, and that there is room for everyone.

  Her message struck me as totally on target, and I could see how there are folks who are not ready to say their name, to be ‘out’ here like I am.

  That in order to talk to them, I may have to duck back in and speak in the dark, until they feel okay to meet with me ‘out’ here.

  I had used the term, “being in the closet” and it does sometimes feel that there are not only abused people hiding in there, too afraid to talk about their abuse, but it seems too that there are abusers hiding there as well.

  Meaning under the cloak of secrecy, and for different reasons, they are all hiding who they really are.

  What I failed to appreciate is that while I am trying to yank them out here to be with me, I need to meet them half way. 

  It is not helpful to be forceful.  Our tug-o-war was getting us nowhere.

  While I am yelling louder they are shrinking further back and that isn’t what I wanted this blog to be about.

  I do want it to be a place for all.

  My fear was speaking to the unknown. But you have reasons I can’t know.  And if I want to hear your side, I must allow you to be in the dark.

  The trick here is to speak from our side and not assume the others position.

  If we position each sentence or feeling with the word “I”.

  With you feeling safer in hiding and me feeling safe in full view, we can figure a way to work together. 

  I recall reading in a book about the caterpillar changing into a butterfly, if you force it to leave the cocoon too soon, its wings will be too wet to fly and it will die.

  We all fly in our own time.  I apologize for my loudness and empathic words and shouting about my journey…And me not realizing you will open the door on your journey in the right and perfect time for you.

  I have been told and I have listened…

   

   

  September 5, 2011

  blog, FALC, I, journey, listen, our, own, pace

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• Where Your Best Interests Lie.

  I believe reality or truth stands alone, splendid and perfectly brilliant, and we all see it from our own life experiences.

  The topic is abuse.  We all know what it is.  There are no doubts or contention on that, what we are seemingly arguing about is what side do you stand upon.  What side do you believe or do you believe it at all?

  There is the side of the perpetrator or the side of the person recounting her/his childhood story, whose side do you hear about and what do you hear, what makes sense and what doesn’t make sense, and what does a victim gain by going public and what does the perpetrator gain by being silent and supported?

  Sometimes we pick our side by what we would do.

  What takes more courage to stand alone speaking of the unspeakable in hopes of stopping this insanity or of remaining silent?

  And why do you pick to speak or not to speak?

  Is it fear of who you are or what you have to lose?

  Is it fear of the repercussions or fear of remaining silent and what that is doing to who you are?

  At one point all who read Jim’s story or mine will pick a side of belief of disbelief, and I believe it has nothing to do with our facts or the usage of the English language, which I believe Jim is a natural born story teller.

  I instead believe that the side you stand upon all is predisposed; it is where you have walked in this life.

  It has more to do with what you stand to lose compared to what we have to say.

  How invested is your life in the FALC or in the fact that the Torola’s remain free of abuse? 

  There is very little vested interest in my family for we are converts, a one family family within the church.  No Aunts, Uncles or cousins, just us.  No preachers or founding fathers, no long lineage, just one big family, with only two brothers remaining in ‘faith’. 

  I am thinking we were not important FALC people; our abuse didn’t affect anyone but us.  It didn’t spill over into the faith of anyone or would it wiggle their beliefs.

  It was our dirty little secret in a bubble, a zit on the face of the FALC, but not the make up or integrity of the FALC.

  People reading our stories have more to lose by believing in Jim, than believing in me.  You can believe in me and keep your faith, but when you believe in Jim, your faith begins to wobble; you will have to face the fact that abuse may travel backwards to the creators of the FALC.

  My lineage is of no bearings to you, the only folks who get up in arms about my writing is my family of origin, for they have lots invested in the Huhta name and the integrity of their parents.

  Interesting to see that you will fall to the side where you best interests lie.

   

  September 2, 2011

  abuse, believing, blog, FALC, jim, sides, torola, truth

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• She was Me

  I had the opportunity to be on web radio, but more importantly the pleasure of speaking with a kindred spirit about my journey, to feel the ease and flow of conversation minus the struggle of explaining.

   

  She got me…and I her.  We looked at life through the same lens…from the inside out. 

   

  Usually it seems I am the odd man out, I am seeing things from a unique angle compared to others in a room, but this time I felt her looking with me in total understanding.

   

  I was also able to see me in a broader way, to realize how far I have come, how my art has led the way, how intuitively I have walked forward and the distance I have traveled.

   

  I have been so intent on this step here that I didn’t see how far I walked, how much I have changed and how deep within I had gone, or even how I now appear.

   

  It is like working on a piece of art, but not stepping back from it…to remain close and perfecting each tiny stroke, not realizing what you have created.

   

  I knew that I had changed drastically, but I don’t believe I saw the beauty in the changes or even the wisdom. 

   

  And I was truly able to see the art in me.

   

  To see my transformation from patterns and dark colors and rigid lines to being the Lady of my quilts.

   

  I am the lady…I can see how we are merging, I am catching up to my lady.  The distance is not such a future dream and far away hope and desire, but that I am living her life today.

   

  I am free, I have self-expression, I am empowered, and passionate, I am truth, I am me.

   

  In the interview I saw my Lady speaking, and she was me.

   

   
  Love her confidence and attitude…and I love that it is within me, has been…waiting for me to embrace it.

   
  This is how my quilts hang in a quilt show…they never seemed to match.  The first time I seen this, I cried, for they fit in like me…not the same as the rest. 

   
  I eventually was able to recognize that not fitting in was okay…but I still chuckle at

  how different my quilts appear next to others…just like me we are in a league of our own. 

  July 21, 2011

  art, blog, changes, fitting, in, intuitive, Jennifer, life, quilts, radio, Siecks, web

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• Willing to Hear.

  Two years ago on Easter Sunday I began this blog. At the time, I felt that I would have something to say to help other women who found themselves lost in their own lives, and instead I have found it was all for me.

  The amount of clarity that I have gotten from asking questions with an open mind, willing to explore and delve into thoughts and beliefs is beyond what I could have imagined.

  The blog seems like a very trusting confidant and yet the key in keeping it real is that it is wide open for all to read.

  Writing to me has become another Art form and something that I believe will now be part of who I am…an Author who helps me be me.

  The truth arises when you are willing to not know the answers…but willing to hear.

  

  April 24, 2011

  asking questions, awareness, beliefs, blog, exploring self, growing, self, thoughts, truth, woman, writing

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• A safe place for Me.

  The sentiments, feelings, expressions, emotions of this blog may appear childlike and perhaps unbecoming of a big lady like me, but what I have just realized, is that the healing I am doing isn’t about a big lady, rather that of a little girl.

  The wounds that happened to me, happened as a young child, and what happens then the body grows big, but inside of me I am stunted and remain emotionally immature.

  Expressing my feelings now, about events long ago, sound like I am lost in my past, but what is really going on is that I am healing me in my past and allowing my emotional body to catch up with my big lady body.

  What is also very incredible is that an event today is orchestrated perfectly to heal a part of me that was hurt a long time ago.

  The gifts that I received by my mother leaving a message on my daughter’s phone, is multifaceted.

  Empowering, grieving, to seeing things I failed to notice, nothing happens by mistake.

  Each event that stirs up emotions is here to teach, to bring a part of me back to me.
  Just so you all know the little girl voice is a voice of little girl who had no voice growing up, and I am thrilled beyond words, that I have the opportunity and the vessel for her to heard.

  Whether another soul reads this or not, I am reading it as I write.

  It is an incredible experience to speak as me and to hear me, to feel the sorrow and be the one to comfort, to allow tears to fall that have been repressed for years, to feel after so many years of being afraid to, I am talking to or as the little girl in each post.

  What sacred space this is.

  A safe place for me.

  November 28, 2010

  blog, child, emotions, expressed, expressing, healing, hearing, pain, repressed, suffering, voicing, wounds, writing

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