I let the old memory pass through without checking whether it meant I was back at the beginning

Dear Delyara, That is healing in the form I trust most. The old memory arrived. And instead of immediately asking, what does this mean about my progress, I let it be what it was: a memory moving through a life that has still changed. I think I used to measure healing too harshly. As if old pain appearing meant failure. Now I understand it more gently. The pain can visit without becoming the whole address again. That understanding is one of the kindest things I have learned.