The Light Within the Storm

Stay pure. Stay present. The light is within you.

The years were a relentless succession of devastating blows. That would have extinguished anyone’s flame. I endured homelessness, the unimaginable trauma of sexual violence, and the devastating finality of a fire that stripped me of every material possession.

Simultaneously, my world was darkened by the loss of seventeen family members and friends, each absence a fresh wound. These events were not challenges; they were an apocalypse of the soul, leaving me adrift in a void of pain and profound grief.

Yet, from this desolate landscape, the greatest lesson of my life emerged. It wasn’t about fighting the darkness; it was about choosing where to place my own light. The true courageous act was not a grand gesture of survival, but the quiet, daily decision to show up in kindness and self-love.

In a world that tried to make me hard, I learned the power of staying pure—guarding my inner goodness against bitterness and cynicism. In moments of panic and despair, I focused on the essential practice of staying present—anchoring myself to the here and now, refusing to be paralyzed by the shadow of the past or the anxiety of the future.

I realized that the strength I sought was never external. The light is within me. It is the unbreakable core that survived the fire, the rape, the loss, and the streets.

It is the capacity to love myself fiercely, to offer compassion even when I feel empty, and to understand that simply choosing to be present, to be kind, is the ultimate act of courage. My story became a testament that trauma does not define the spirit, but merely reveals its indestructible light.

XO, The Light is You with Linda J Wolff