“A 7-year-old child was hiding in a closet terrified after an unexpected attack by his drunken, enraged father. This little child prays, ‘Help! I can’t take it anymore,’ and then he opens his eyes and sees a fairy in a blue mist. He tells the fairy how his father hit him, and his mother doesn’t help him, and he feels like they both wish he were dead. The fairy listens with tears in her eyes and then tells him, she can’t take away all this pain, but she can help him forget it, and then remember it when he’s able to cope with it. The fairy said, ‘I’m going to send things into different parts of your body, and they’re going to carry them until you feel strong enough to move them again.’ She explains to the little child how she’s going to tighten his pelvis, contract his stomach and throat, and squeeze his heart, protecting him from the raw intensity of pain and fear, and the breaking of his heart. You will find it difficult to feel close to people, said the fairy, but that will be your way of surviving. The moment the pain erupts, you will find your own ways of controlling it, ways that may not seem good to the world, but which will be of temporary comfort, and you, my darling, will be a fairly functional human being despite all this because you have a strong mind and you can hold it all together, and I will give you help. The child looked directly into the fairy's eyes and said, "How will you help me?" When you come back to me, you will not forget everything; I will leave within you a voice that will urge you to reconnect with your whole being. It may be a very long process, but in time, you will feel an urgent call to come out of your imprisoned beliefs, to relax your body, and to release all that has been held back all these years. You will learn the art of sacred presence. There will be physical and emotional pain when you open up, but you will have what you need: compassion and wisdom, the support of loving people to be a whole person, spiritually awakened but still the same. This is because your soul has always been there, just hidden by the scars of this life. The story ends with the fairy placing her hand on the child's shoulders and gently leading him to bed, and as the little child finally relaxes into a deep sleep, the fairy looks at him tenderly. She whispers goodbye. When you wake up, you will forget I was there. You will forget you asked for help. You will forget the sharpness of your daily pain. It is the only way I know to get you out of this. You are a beautiful child. I love you, and in fact, your parents love you, even though they are unable to show it. You will have to love yourself enough to heal so that as you grow up, your life will be powerful, full, and free. One day you will know who you truly are. You will trust your goodness and know that you are a part of it. Until then and always, I love you." - Tara Brach