Strike a Match

by Jessie Cooper | Nov 9, 2023

In my last blog to you I wrote to you about lighting up the world with your love to burn down the fear that surrounds you. In this blog I implored you to detach yourself from beliefs rooted in fear, to lean into your love, and use your rage against hate to build a new world. I hold a vision that collectively, should we choose this path, a new world will be created where all living beings flourish. My dad would say this is the romantic in me, my mama would say this is the fighter. To create this type of change, I realize that not everyone’s love and fury is as heated as mine. I hope someday it is, but to find your fire the first thing that must be done is to strike a match. Are you interested darling? Is there a low heat simmering in you as you observe your life or the life of others? I hope so, but if so, read on.

I’ve often quoted Glennon Doyle’s work, she’s now a well known writer and thought leader with her Podcast, “We Can do Hard Things.” In her work Glennon challenges us to re-evaluate our lives to find our truest form. In her work Glennon grapples with the concept of self-identity and how to find this within a suppressing society. Years ago Glennon’s work inspired me to evaluate my home life because at that time I had separated from myself and my love. Sure, I was giving love to others, but it was nowhere to be found for myself. This season of my life was the darkest I have ever walked. In separating myself from love, fear had taken root in me. Admittedly, terror was amidst my daily experience and truly love was the only way out. It was then I decided to light my own match to light the journey home.

Who Do You See in The Mirror?

I realize in writing this, it is incredibly vague. Why was I separated from my love? Who was I giving it to over myself? What was I frightened of? Who was I running from? Well, my darlings, that story is for a different time when I can safely tell it. What I can tell you is to know what it is to have a deep separation from love, and what it feels like to follow its call in the night. In those dark hours, I knew one thing to be true, I was no longer myself. My experience was admittedly extreme. However, I know that so many of us have these life experiences where in a chilling moment of clarity we realize we are gone. It is that very moment we must trust and believe that the light of love can expose the path back home to ourselves.

Have you ever felt this darling? I’m almost certain that you have. It might be a one off day where you feel restless, depressed or snappy. It could be that you are lost in judgment against yourself and therefore those around you. Perhaps it’s in moments of parenting where you cannot believe the words you’re yelling at your own child. Or in the empty halls of your marriage, knowing deeply you are not being loved the way in which you deserve to be loved.

Perhaps in these moments you’ve justified them away. Everyone has a bad day right? Everyone is stuck in judgment or has parenting moments we are less than proud of. And yes, everyone has some type of relationship, marriage or otherwise, that does not serve their highest good. Yet here’s the thing my darling, if you justify away that everyone else has this experience and then make no changes you, my dearest one, are stuck in fear. To change these life experiences that separate us from love, we must acknowledge them, hold them, and then want to change them.

Grab a Match

Recently I was at the riding stable with my little son Declan. If you would like to see cuteness in real life I invite you to see a tiny four year old in cowboy boots. My god, it’s glorious. The stable is owned by a woman at my Crossfit gym and the trainer is her sister. These women are powerhouses. I was re-canting to the trainer a recent experience I was struggling with as a mama. My darling son Declan struggles with anger and staying calm against his rage is a tall order to fill. As I shared this with her, I told her how badly I feel when I yell and how I’m desperately trying to stay connected to my love. I want to offer him the care and love I would want if anger I could not control overcame me. I was expecting a dismissive response, most moms give a simple, “Ugh, I know but yelling is the only way they listen!” The trainer instead met me with love and understanding, “I hate when I yell at my son, I always apologize after and people say I’m too good to him but I know he deserves to be treated like a person.” Yes! This is a woman connected to her love, who knows how to light a match when she needs to start the journey home. This is a woman who knows that no matter what, treating others (or ourselves) with unkindness, is not the way.

This experience is exactly what I am trying to tell you; it offers the two choices in front of us when we have an experience rooted in fear. We can either dismiss it, “Ugh everyone yells but it works!” or acknowledge it, “Yes, I yelled, I’m human, but it’s not okay and I’ll work to choose a different way.” It’s a tiny moment, a spark if you will, to begin the journey home to love. So where my darling are you separated from your love? Where does fear creep in and make decisions for you because it has taken root? What my darling can you change in any small moment to begin to light the path back home?  Speaking from experience, starting with, “I don’t feel like myself and I want to come home,” is a wonderful place to start.

Grab a match my darling, I’m waiting for you and miss you so. It’s time my darlings, come home.

Xoxo,
Jessie Cooper

Light Up The World

by Jessie Cooper | Oct 12, 2023

In my last blog, I wrote about Pledging Allegiance to Self Love. In that blog, I implored you to pledge to love yourself. Have you done it, darling? Spent time with the dark corners of your life that have brought you deep shame while offering yourself love? I hope you have darling. As I’ve said, you are not the sum of your darkest moments. You are expansively your light and love, should you choose to live in harmony with it. For it is not what happens to us, but how we respond that truly matters. As I write these words to you, I have to be honest, there is a piece of my writing that is selfish. “Selfish,” you say? Yes darling, selfish.

You see, I do want you to access your love and live expansively in it. I also want this because I want every being on earth to live the best life possible. We only get so many trips around the sun. I’ve written to you before about the Two Wolves; if you spend your time orbiting the sun lost in fear you have in turn lost your life. A life lost in fear means a life filled with wounding; both for yourself and others. But if you live your life connected to your love, you live your life connected to your true essence and the spirit surrounding us. As you stay in this connection to your love your wounds are able to heal.

This part of my wish is not selfish, I do want you to find your love and stay in connection with it. The part of my wish that is selfish is that I am tired of living in a world filled with hate and fear. I’m not just tired, I’m exhausted, and I need all of us to shed this pointless way of life. I can no longer be a bystander to the parts of our world that are shaped by shadows. Sitting quietly is something I have never been quite good at.

A Shift from Fear to Love

You see, I have walked through an incredible amount of darkness in my life and I have seen firsthand what the great separation from love creates. I have wept as those I loved once fell into this darkness never to be seen again. I have observed the people involved in this darkness more times than not simply turn a blind eye. As I’ve watched all of this unfold I could have joined them in their darkness, but my rage demanded a different outcome. My anger did not come with fear, it came from knowing that a miracle is defined as a shift from fear to love. In each black moment of my life, I knew that love was a heartbeat away.

My external darkness involves a system of oppression. As I write this, I know that my sisters and brothers choked by this system know this darkness too well. While they may not be facing the exact system I have been oppressed by, anyone but the elite has certainly faced some type of oppression in their lifetime. And, in my opinion, the elite are just as lost to fear drowning in attachment to material possessions. There is an unequal distribution of power and wealth at the root of this oppression that is planted with seeds of fear.

This forest, our society, has taken root with fear and the trees growing are barren. Each of the seeds of fear plant separation that starts with a single being and then expands as it grows. These seeds tell us that we are the sum of our traumas, that we are unloveable, unforgivable, unworthy, and alone. As these seeds attempt to take root with you will you grow with them? Will you water your trauma with the poison of suppression? Will you sprinkle your mind with unkind and judgemental words first to yourself, and then towards others? Will you repress your shame so that the light of your empathy is forever smothered? Will you decide that to become worthy you must harvest your worth from others and the possessions of this world? Will you go to bed each night satiated on hate and fear until you know nothing but this darkness? In this darkness will you succumb to the idea that you are truly alone? One against the world? My love if you are lost in fear I am weeping for you. It is all too easy to water our pain and separate ourselves from love. Especially when we find ourselves in a forest grown from hate.

Water What You Want to Grow

Yet what is inside of the seed cannot be changed just as what is inside of each and every one of us cannot be changed. Watering fear grows fear. Watering love grows love. I need us to choose again and water our love. Our world is suffering, our society is not sustainable, and the most vulnerable amongst us are not safe.

So you see my darling I need you to water your love, because I need all of us to come back home. To wake up and realize that a wound done to the earth is done to all of us. That an oppression or injustice our sisters and brothers face is an oppression or injustice we all face. I need us to push the shadows of fear away so that the truth of love creates a light so bright it burns these forests of fear to the ground. I need all of us to say, “This is not the way,” when any level of hate is brought to us. Whether this be a moment you walk past a mirror muttering unkind words to yourself or a moment a brother is killed for the color of his skin. I need us all to wake up and demand love, equality, and a society that reflects who we truly are as humans.

My darlings, I implore you, to rub your sleepy eyes and see what is planted around you. If you have separated from your love, place your hand against your heart and find it. Then, my darlings as you wake from your fearful slumber, find your rage against the forest around you. Find a tree of hate worth cutting down and unleash your fury. Lead your life with love for yourself and our world. For together, should we collectively choose our love, our world can be replanted and flourish as the flowers of our truest form bloom.

Xoxo,
Jessie Cooper

Pledging Allegiance to Self Love

by Jessie Cooper | Sep 28, 2023

Several weeks ago I wrote to you about the busyness of life. In reading my blog did you feel connected as you reflected on seasons or moments when your life was packed with too much? Sometimes just knowing that we are not alone in any given struggle is enough. We’ve all had seasons filled with, well something, that didn’t sit well with our souls. Busyness, for me, was that latest season and I’ve certainly weathered darker ones. Coming out of those seasons we have to make the next best choice for ourselves. This step always involves first walking ourselves home so that perhaps we can weather the next season with more love.

Have you done that darling? Taken a moment to hold your hand to your heart, breathed deeply, and murmured, “I am here” to your soul? I gave this example to my six-year-old son recently when he was talking about something that was hard for him. He replied, “Mom, we already have to do that for the flag at school!” “Yes, baby, I know, but you also have to pledge allegiance to yourself.” Personally, I pledged nearly three years ago to never abandon myself for anyone or anything else again. Easier said than done, but here I am, still walking myself home.

Don’t Let Yourself Steal Yourself

We all have seasons of life that steal us away from ourselves. I wish that this weren’t true and yet our life on earth does not exist without challenges or trepidation. There are a million tiny moments followed by larger, more impactful moments that challenge how we treat ourselves. That darling, is what I want to focus on today. I want you to learn to be a kind shepherd to yourself when those challenging moments come. This is because darling, when you can be kind to yourself through those challenges you not only nurture your wounds, you can find your strength in your love. Hate always threatens to take us away from ourselves; don’t let it baby. Hold your heart and stay close.

Have you tried this after reading my blogs all these years? Have you become a believer that inside of you is boundless love? That no matter what choices you make or challenges you face, love is always waiting for you? My darling, I hope you know that this is true. Yes, of course, you’ve had moments you are not proud of in how you treat other people or yourself. You have also walked through moments or seasons where how the world has treated you is less than kind. You’re human baby, we have all been there. But beyond those moments, if you are brave enough to reflect on them, you can minimize the pain you feel knowing there is a different way to live. Because darling, once you breathe the oxygen mask of love, you will be forever changed.

Love is true, Love is strong

You see, centering yourself with love, does not take away your strength. It does not make you defenseless or weak. It does not make you soft where you need to be strong. It does not make you blind where you are forced to see the truth. It reminds you of how precious you are, how precious life is, what home feels like, and how to protect that home. For once you know that kindness is what we are all created to be, you cannot look away. Or, I suppose you can, but at some point, your lungs will burn again for love and you will breathe yourself back home. You will learn what I have learned; love is the strongest and truest thing on earth.

The great bell hooks writes about how our time on earth is just an ascension into the purest form of love possible. That the greatness beyond our life is not heaven or hell, but how closely we lived in fellowship with love. How close we can get to love inside of us, then share with others. This my darling is what I want you to know. To find the soft and brilliant parts of yourself and truly lean into your love. To dance intimately with yourself and fall in love. To know that no matter how dark your path may or might have been that love glows inside of you. To press your thumb against your cheek and breathe deeply into yourself knowing that love is there.

Can you do it, darling? Can you look past what is on the outside of your life or the inside of your mind and offer love? Can you take those moments where you abandoned your love, forgive yourself, and move forward? Can you treat yourself with such kindness that it is second nature to offer it to others? Can you witness where the world is lacking love and offer your wisest solution? I think you can baby, I think we all can and turn this world upside down with a revolution of love.

Xoxo,
Jessie Cooper

The Depth Beneath Our Protectors

by Jessie Cooper | Jul 13, 2023

In my last blog, I wrote to you about our darling protectors. I taught you about how our emotions and the “protectors” in our internal system are there to protect us. Our protectors quickly stand on high alert for us when they see or feel a perceived threat. Yet left untamed or misunderstood protectors can actually do the opposite causing more harm than good. Our protectors are fierce defenders that want to be seen so that we can be safe. The problem is they often come out with their boxing gloves on. When you’re leading a life with a spacious, loving heart the boxing gloves are a little far from your integrity. The work then becomes slipping off the boxing gloves while listening to the message your protectors are trying to convey.

As a behavior analyst, emotions were not something I studied through my clinical training. I studied behaviors you can observe. I’m nearly confident that at some point in my early 20’s, I posted something on social media to the tune of, “Emotions aren’t real!” I was super fun in my 20s and by fun, I mean I was really outspoken without enough life experience to back it up. But as time and life went on the impact of emotions on my own quality of life, as well as clinical practice were undeniable. Brene Brown stands correct that we are emotional beings, that sometimes think, and always behave. Our emotions are at the root of our humanity. As I began to understand the role of our emotions and internal family systems my eyes were opened. I could clearly see how tending to our emotions is the only way to live in alignment with our integrity. Our emotions are the soul of our life experiences and most of the behavior we observe is connected to them.

Emotions Beneath Our Protectors

In looking at emotions this way, as an integral part of our lived experience, we can begin to understand how to tend to ourselves in a loving and compassionate way. This can be important with our positive emotions, we want to know what brings us joy! But for today, I’m going to write about the emotions beneath our protectors. As I’ve walked through some incredibly difficult times in my life, it was fear that kept me away from myself and it was love that set me free. When my protectors showed up with gloves on, which was often for a period of my life, I led my life with a racing heart unable to see my way out. The fear felt front and center, my protectors at the wheel, with me riding as a passenger in my life.  This was not a life I wanted. I would get through a situation defending myself only to feel worse. The emotional hangover of letting fear drive you is filled with shame and guilt.

As the years passed and I was able to work through my emotions one tricky experience at a time I began to form a new understanding of my fear. In the past few weeks, as I’ve navigated a bump in my fear road, this new understanding fully formed. I’m not a perfect person, or divinely brilliant. But I am a human who has been through an awful lot and have chosen to use education as well as self-reflection to navigate my own life. So, here we go, here is my profound thought:

“Fear is not a fear of the world, it is a fear that in the end, we will not be able to support the emotions that pulse through our being.”

This thought came to me as I was putting my boxing gloves down and listening to my protectors. Time and time again their message was, “I don’t want to feel like this.” When I was walking through a situation that caused negative emotions of course I didn’t want the situation. But I know that when life presents hardships it’s not a reflection of my worth and I know how to work through almost any difficult situation well.

Protectors Protect, Wise Presence Comforts

What my protectors were afraid of was that I would shift into an emotion that made me feel low. As my protectors, they don’t want that for me which is why they go into high gear when the world is tricky and hard. But as I sank into this new understanding of what my protectors were really afraid of I was able to begin to have tea with them. As my heart raced, my face burning, with fear or sadness building I placed a gentle hand to my heart, “Hello darling, I see you, you can tell me, I am here.” The more I came with curiosity, the more I was able to understand what my subconscious mind was creating. I was able to bring my deeply rooted fears into consciousness and with this awareness release them. Through this healing work, I was able to see that what my protectors were running from was fear.

As I’ve been able to go beneath the surface of my protectors; I’ve been able to extend my loving hand to my emotions that are hard. A little while ago I had a very challenging day that involved facing some serious bullies. Throughout the day I stayed within my integrity, but in the shower, I wept because my body needed to release the sadness. Then, breath by breath I murmured, “Jessie, darling, it’s okay you are brave baby, all is well.” In the past I would not have been able to hold my sadness, I would have stayed in anger over the day I had. Yet going beneath the surface to extract what I really feel and offer it care is the most impactful thing I’ve ever done.

How about you darling? Do you have protectors in your life trying to keep you safe but by doing so are keeping you separate from that kind heart of yours? If I were a betting woman I’d bet we all do. Could you instead of fighting against the world, pour a cup of tea and listen to your fears? I bet you can and when you do I’m certain you will hear, “Who will keep me safe?” I also know you are also brave enough to reply, “Me darling, I am here and will carry us home to our heart.” Live bravely darling, feel your feelings, and do not be afraid, be present, caring, and kind.

Xoxo,
Jessie Cooper

Darling Protectors

by Jessie Cooper | Jun 22, 2023

Over the past several months I’ve taken you through a series of blogs with a deep hope to bring you back to your loving presence. Has it worked darling? As the sun opens her sleepy eyes alongside you, do you wake each morning with a hand to your heart? Gently rubbing and reminding yourself, “I am love.” Have you been able to do this regardless of if your days are easy or filled with struggle? I know you may not have done this perfectly, but I do, darling, hope you have tried. Love pulses through the core of your being just as sure as the sun breaks the sky open with light. Your loving presence is true.

What also feels true is that our world can feel scary from our homes, schools, and social interactions, all the way to our toxic political climate. Not one of us is blessed with a life without struggle or encountering situations and people that do not serve our highest good. We do not exist in a vacuum and even in the most loving homes, everyone has human moments where they act in unkind ways towards others. Our world is filled with little to massive landmines of experiences that cause fear. We’ve spoken before and there is absolutely nothing wrong with fear itself. Fear is a valuable emotion that tells us to pay attention. The problem with fear is when we allow ourselves to be driven by fear instead of making decisions from grounded love.

Returning to Your Presence

I recently had an experience I thought I was “handling well,” but that was causing my fear to stand on high alert. Day after day I found myself slipping just a little farther from my presence and a little closer to, “I need to protect myself.” My nervous system began lighting up with past experiences of trauma and my actions wanted to say, “You can piss right off,” to anything I felt was a threat. Most of my actions were in alignment with my integrity, I could see a trigger and walk away but damn, I was tired of my new perceived field of landmines. On several occasions as my little men screamed at me for, I don’t know, not applying sunscreen quickly enough, I would find myself repeating, “Mama can’t trust herself to be kind right now,” as a slid into a room and took box breaths before re-emerging to apply the sunscreen. I was caught in my fear loops and having a challenging time returning to my presence as well as my love.

Right on time I had a session with my therapist and explained to her that while I knew I was safe, and mostly handling my responses well, I was also really disappointed in myself that my triggers were, well, still triggers. I’ve been in trauma-informed care for almost three years now. “Isn’t it time that the predictable yet unkind behaviors of others would not cause my mood to shift?” My therapist looked directly at me, “How many times do I have to tell you this? You will never stop being triggered, you might find the distance from them, but the work is how to provide care for yourself when you are triggered.” I do this nice little dance of not making eye contact when she’s right, so I stared up at the ceiling and sighed. She was not wrong; loving ourselves is what we have control over, not how we feel in the presence of triggers.

What she also reminded me of is that in the framework of internal family systems, we all have different internal roles inside our psyche that serve us at different times. I’m pretty sure I’ve written about this briefly; about how to recognize all our internal parts and when they are active. One of the internal roles we all have are our protectors, those bold and loud parts that want to keep us safe but all help us form the aforementioned sentence of, “You can piss right off,” or lock the door to the bathroom as our toddlers become enemy number one. Our protectors formed through, well, our formative years to keep us safe from what they felt was a threat. Protectors are incredibly valuable, because they want us to be safe, and protectors are all action and control. The protectors in our psyche want what is best for us, but do not possess foresight or emotional intelligence. There are moments in our life when we need our protectors to spring into action. For example, if you are in a physically unsafe situation, protectors will swiftly create an exit route. But protectors see each and every threat as equal and can also create scenarios, like eating disorders, to also keep us safe if they see being large as a threat. Protectors are hard at work building walls and rules for us.

Reminding Your Love, Rinse, Repeat

Let’s pause for a second, take a collective deep breath, and repeat to ourselves, “The love in me, is the love in you.” Shit just got hard and deep thinking about protectors; they’re an intense part of our psyche that oftentimes create more trouble than good for us. When our protectors are in place we’re not making decisions from alignment, we’re making decisions from fight, flight, freeze. As we make decisions with this protective mindset, alignment can feel farther and farther away. So how do we return to alignment? How do we work with our protectors so that we might hear their messages but be the decision-maker of our actions and reactions?” I’ll tell you; we name and thank our protectors. That’s it, protectors just want to be seen and will scream (just like my toddler for sunscreen) until they are heard. Protectors know they are valuable and need your acknowledgment.

As you acknowledge your protectors, and dare I say thank them, the response of fight, flight, and freeze begins to melt away. Loving breath, through loving breath, you are able to see a part of yourself that deeply wants what is best for you and perhaps served you once but is no longer needed. We’ll dive into this more because there is a lot to unpack with protectors. For now, the healing work is to know that we all have warriors within us who are valuable, but as adults, these warriors must be selected and trained. When we allow our protectors free reign of our decisions the life in front of us is led by fear, not love. I don’t know about you, but a life driven by fear is nowhere to be found in my integrity.

So today my darling loves, if you have struggled even a bit with feeling on the outside of your life, think for a moment, “Who is here?” And begin the healing work of listening to your protectors to know where they have come from, why they are here, and what must be done to return yourself to love.

Xoxo,
Jessie Cooper