A story based on a real conversation:

“Where are you in life?”  asked the good witch from the East to the wild woman from the West.

The woman fingered the quartz amulet around her neck for a long time as she considered the question,

“Chaos is the new calm – Sand the new cement – Screams the new silent – Crumbs the new cake – Noise the new white – Glue the new air – Upside the new down – Stones the new pillow – Breath the new broken…

I cannot let go of the past.  It holds me in a vice.  I yearn for clarity, focus, release but there’s no oxygen left.  I want advice – but what even IS advice?  Ad – vice; does that mean towards vice?   Can you trust anyone in this world?  “You’ve got this”  they say.  – What the hell does that mean?  and..and Why does my heart feel so bad?” Tears cracked her voice.

“I see you. What you have got is the measure of the absurdity of being.  Few people have that.  Most are too afraid to look back at where they have been or to question ‘that thing’ that has broken their heart. To feel the moment that is stuck between timelines. It is your gift to be able to feel that. The word Advice comes from the Latin, ‘ad visum’ and it means towards clear sight.  Towards vision.  It is true that good unbiased advice is hard to find on the outside. The best place to start is within.”

The woman looked up through tears.  “Do you know how to turn poison into medicine? Do you know how to reset time?”

“Sometimes.  The spell keeps evolving.  Trust is the main ingredient. Sometimes it takes a long time and it can hurt – but no worse than you are already hurting.  Everything starts with You. You have to trust yourself and time.  Time is amazingly flexible.  We can expand it whenever we need to.” 

Once we believe in our own time, we can restart it, move through the air at our own pace and breathe again. And the heart keeps beating.