Heartstrings Counseling

10/02/2025

09/11/2025

Horrified by the events of today at our local High School! Here's a valuable resource to support healing in our community in the aftermath of a school shooting. Please reach out if you need more resources and/or support. https://maistorybook.substack.com/p/when-gun-violence-is-rampant-picture?r=2j66ob&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true&fbclid=IwdGRleAMvIt9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHpJVOcP24SE0FywE-GILEWsy8E_M-iJzTHAiJK_ctouY3IT5lM3PFMV1oHq6_aem_1Flj2Ry4m6Zad5mypUVpng

The school year has barely begun…

07/21/2025

Healing over Everything

07/11/2025

07/04/2025

“Every time I think I am healed, another wound whispers beneath my skin, another memory rises like smoke from the ashes of old versions of me, but maybe healing is not a destination, maybe it is the brave act of walking through your own ruins and still planting flowers.”

(✍️ Robert M. Drake )

Art : Sharon Wann

06/15/2025

05/28/2025

The power of naming is the oldest magic.

In Rumplestiltskin, the girl’s life, her child, her very future are bound by an impossible contract — but the key to breaking it is this: she must learn his name.
The twisted little man who spins straw into gold, has power only as long as he stays unnamed.Once she utters his name aloud, she cracks the spell. She unmakes the shadow’s hold. She names what was hidden — and by doing so, she reclaims her life.

Naming is spell-breaking. Naming is sovereignty. Naming is witness.

There are things to name that many in the world do not want us to name. Naming matters when we talk about genocide. If we don’t name what is happening in Palestine as genocide, as the calculated destruction of a people, we participate in the spell of concealment. We participate in Rumplestiltskin’s dark game.

We live in a world where language itself has been weaponized — where headlines twist stories, where the oppressor’s name is softened, where the victim’s name is erased. But to name the crime is to refuse the erasure.

Names are not just labels. They are keys. They are spells. They are weapons. And the one who dares to speak the true name — whether a young girl before a tyrant, or a people standing before the machinery of empire — becomes the one who shatters the lie.

I woke up this morning and read two specific posts —one by Democracy Now about Columbia Student Moshen Mahdawi, “ they want to silence me”—on ICE Jail, Palestine, Activism, & Buddhism; and another on IG by Holly Truhlar grief practitioner, about being fired by an online organization she was part of, for naming genocide in her grief work.

We weave the world more whole when we name truth.

In the old stories,
the girl is trapped.
The room is locked,
the straw must turn to gold,
the impossible bargain is struck.

And the shadow-man dances,
laughing in the dark —
his power alive
only as long
as his name
is unknown.

But when she finds it,
when she speaks it,
when she says:
Rumplestiltskin —
the spell snaps.
The curse unravels.
The girl reclaims her life.

This is the power of naming.
To speak the true word.
To break the enchantment.
To see what power wants hidden.

Words: The Wild Remembering
Stasha Ginsburg

05/07/2025

05/02/2025

🌱🌼

04/26/2025

— Remember, what others see is often just the surface. Behind every smile, there's a story of struggle, resilience, and growth. Your journey may be hidden from view, but each challenge you face shapes the strength within you. Embrace your path, for it is uniquely yours. While others may only see the triumphs, you know the depth of your experience. Let your struggles fuel your determination, and inspire others by sharing your truth. You are more than what meets the eye. 🌻✨