Day 12: Truthful Praise

Last night was another great open mic at Cafe Hey. This little open mic grew out of my desire to have a place where I could freely share my art and myself, and meet others who desire the same. It has turned into an ever-shifting community of people, that is creating positive change in the world more than I could have ever imagined. I have made many friends through the open mic, or had friends convert into open mic attendees and feel blessed that every week I get to go to a place where I'm loved, accepted, and even sometimes praised.

I will acknowledge that it is difficult for me to write the last word in the previous paragraph, but after last night I think I need to get over it.  In all the amazingness that was shared last night there were two moments in particular that pulled my heart-strings to tightly I thought they might snap.

The first was when one of our hosts and good friend of mine shared a poem named after me. It's not about me per se, but about his experience with an emotional release session with me.  He shared his experience with working with me as a therapist and how it helped him tremendously in his healing. I felt blessed to have a shout out like that.

But apparently he was not the only one who felt compelled to let the people know the good news that they can feel better and that I might be the one to help them.  We had a last minute sign up by another friend of mine who happened to be in that night.  He  also shared his experience with seeing me for treatment and the resulting disappearance of crippling migraines that plagued him his entire life. That's a big claim in itself. But then it went further. He also told a story of when he was in his darkest moment, and how out of all the friends he thought of, it was me, the thought of me, that helped to pull him out of despair. Wow. He said, "Nyssa is a light in this world and you all need to know it."

The tautness of my heart-strings reached a breaking point in that moment.  My heart didn't break, it broke open.