Having traversed the barren lands of ‘Self’,
I stumbled onto an island.
Only I could walk upon her shores,
Only I could bask in her sunlight,
Dream in her shimmering, moonlit seas.
Only I could become safe here…
In my own body, mind and beginning…
Safer Shores of Me, is a collection of poetry written during a time of deep transformation, wherein a will to become safe again won out over every other battle being fought. Oftentimes, life has horrific things happening in it and safety is not an accessible physical and external feature of one’s life. If it is like this for you, and even where it isn’t, let these healing and recovery writings urge you inwards, to a place of anchoring, safety, and the source of a will to survive. Consider it as necessary reading, or perhaps preparatory, because these words will not waste your time, only strengthen, preserve and protect should Hell ever come for you.
This book contains guided activities and meditations to support the reader in developing their own sense of safety, one accessible at the touch of their own imagination and will.
Click here to buy the book today!
Or explore some of the collection in the poetry library…
“There is a reason we seek safety in all the wrong places, because no one taught us to seek it in the only place it really begins and ends – within our own self!”
– Ana Maria Santuario, 2023.
Broken hearts seek safety in all the wrong places.
I met a man, he made me feel so safe. Love is what I named that feeling, it happened fast, but I fell easily and found an instant home. I often think that ‘rising’ from Love would be the best way to term these transformational fires of breathing in two heart beats at once, as it is all rather phoenix-like. But we fall, some of us at least, because we have not the tools of resilience and firmness of boundary to survive such an onslaught of light energy.
I fell and kept falling, even after he abandoned me to hell on earth, when family was dying, when friend knew me not, when all I needed was for ONE PERSON to love me and see me so that I might find my bearing in a world that made me perpetually invisible to its inhabitants. He saw me, you see, in a way nobody had up to that point, he saw my flaws and liked them, he enjoyed my temper, he even drew a line in the sand between me and his own fury and rage. But it wasn’t enough for him…
He wanted the money and slavery of another woman, the maid, let’s call her, a caged female form, not a free one. ‘His loss’, people would say, but I felt loss too, for I knew that love had touched my life through his eyes. The safety felt through his presence left me when he did… It took years of life to discover that the feeling began on my insides, that the safety was my own to claim within, not rely on in another. It became a practice of reclaiming, reclaiming what I had gained and lost through another by creating it within my own mind and body, all without need of his mirror.
Time gave me my safety back, but not him, and when he was not ever needed again to feel safe, I let him go, forever. My heart reopened to this world and made space for a more loving version of his eyes, ones that steadied beside me… and didn’t turn to find in another, what they could always find in themselves…
Reflections after reading, Safer Shores of Me…
“Safety is not a right we all had upheld, inside is where reclaiming it begins.”
Raquel Maraschi, London, UK.
Seeker of safe spaces.
“Where safety has been taken, the path to reclaiming it has been paved by these poems and the associated guided meditations.”
Ingrid Swan, London, UK.
Bringer of the spoken word to children.
“Enjoy finding some place new. An adventure like no other is the one we take within ourselves. These poems helped clarify where to look for our own buried treasures, with a focus on one key in particular – safety.“
Bob Locke, Kent, UK.
Braving the world of true resilience.
“Burying your right to safety is what the world does, and it makes money from making you first feel unsafe, then selling you false solutions. Go inwards, it’s the only true destination of safety anyway.”
Sean, Los Angeles, USA.
Mad man who let love slip past him.
I built a home on the inside.
Orphans seek a home, we are often told that orphans have no parents, but some do, should an orphan be determined by whether they were ever effectively loved by their parents. For without unconditional love, many miss out on that sense of safety growing up, in turn, they keep seeking what was supposed to be given from birth, in the world around them.
Trauma takes many things from a person, namely, their safety, be that physical, psychological and emotional, or even financial. Safety may mean being at a distance from one’s family, or not speaking to them at all. Safety can mean a multitude of things for everyone – it may mean community or isolation, it may mean watching television or listening to music, it may even mean taking a deep breath instead of holding it in (or out).
When external safety is an impossible thing to access, for whatever reason, seek inward instead, it really is possible to find safety in a memory, or a feeling cultivated through meditations, visualisations, the creating of art, movement, or sitting still. Safety can be claimed as a permanent resource, an anchor, a very important home, from which you learn to never be taken. In other words, learning what safety looks and feels like makes it possible, from that point on, to detect danger again, to stay safe externally, and to never jeoprodise what it may take years to build… a home in your body.
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Click here to find a selection of poems taken from Ana Maria Santuario’s debut poetry publication, A Journey of Subtraction, or subscribe below to receive half of the collection today, along with gifts from The Travelling Love Series and Ana Maria’s Signature DIY Bookmark Collection. Click here for more information regarding the subscription package.
Walk inward…
My island is my anchor, I can go there anytime, wherever I am, whoever is around me need not know it, that I dwell in perpetual safety. But when they jeoprodise said safety, I become a parent to myself and protect what is more than precious – my life, my sanctuary, my body, mind and soul. Without anybody else doing this for me, it became the vital ingredient that enabled me to thrive after losing everything, in one fell swoop.
Life takes everything when it wants you to find something more precious, a hidden treasure, when it wants you to hold tight and place value on that which matters more than anything external, your internal wealth and integrity. Your insides are infinitely more valuable than anything could ever be on the outside. In this world, it is a rare story which reinforces such a vital concept, one that might assist surviving the harsher storms of life.
To anchor inwards requires training, practicing safe space meditations daily may be required. Yet, where you are already a fairly safe person, it might just enhance something already perfect and safe – your inside world. Safety and creativity go hand in hand too, and creative routes can become the pathway to safety, or the way to celebrating it, which is why art therapy, dance psychotherapy, and expressive avenues are really important too.
“In order to seek safety we must first know what it feels like. Where you may not have experienced anything truly representative of safety, try using the mirrors offered in this collection to help you access a feeling, a sense of being, and ultimately, a way of living life in constant reliance on your inwards guidance. Your gut and instinct know what safety is, but where it might be numb, desensitised, or over sensitive, a little work is likely required. Give this journey inward the time it needs to really work. Patience and persistence are great friends if you can let them become so.”
– Ana Maria Santuario, 2023.
Here are a few selected poems from the collection:
Explore a wider range of poems in the Poetry Library.
Please subscribe to receive half of the collection, A Journey of Subtraction, in PDF format, seek a taste of Ana Maria’s loving words in the poetry library, or buy her books and delve into yourself at the turn of a page, carrying her words with you like a loving and honest friend.
