Venus stands behind Vesta,
braiding her hair,
in front of a mirror.

"Have you ever thought about
letting people help you, Vesta?"

"I'm trying not to be
co-dependent, Venus."

"That's when you help 
others, too much, and obsess
about their problems, like
they're your own, rather 
than dealing with your own
shadows.  Your problem
is that you are 
hyper-independent."

"Spoken like a true
co-dependent."

Venus rolls her eyes,
"You've swung the pendulum,
too far, as you unlearn
enmeshment.  What you really
need, is to learn co-
regulation."

"And how exactly 
does that work?"

"Mostly it has to do
with letting someone 
witness 
you, who isn't trying 
to fix you, 
or tell you
you are wrong, or 
trying to get you to feel
something else, something 'better.'
Sometimes, energy just needs
to move.  When someone can 
contain you, as you contract
and expand, we call it, 
'holding space,' but 
most of us are still learning 
how to do it, in any 
kind of healthy way."

"So how do you do it?"

Venus looks Vesta
in the eyes, reflected in 
the mirror, for a long moment.  
And then, she moves to rest
her chin on Vesta's shoulder,
as she wraps her arms
around her waist.
"I am Here with you,
you are safe," Venus 
waits.  Vesta bursts 
into tears, and Venus says 
Nothing.  She keeps 
holding, and listening, 
until the Darkness 
finds its place.

In the car, on the way
home, Venus sighs.
So Vesta side-eyes, and sighs
louder, and so on,
and so forth -until
Venus' groans, transition
into Faith's Hymn,
moaning like a dusty
bag-pipe.  They both
burst, crying-
laughing.

…A short movement practice for opening the heart…