Survivor Benefits: A Poetic Memoir

Survivor Benefits is my raw realization, after my husband's passing, of having been a target of family bullying by my in-laws and how I established the love required to compassionately heal myself.

Survivor Benefits is a spiritual calling in my year of loss.
A calling to unclutter.
A calling to get rid of toxic people.
A calling to bring order to the sudden responsibilities of my new formed husbandless-fatherless family by mothering my grieving kids.

In the face of Financial Abuse, I saw how souls get weary under the burden of wealth. Standing in my knowing that kindness is a far more valuable currency than money.

In the face of Spiritual Rape, I saw how there is evilization of the sufferer and inquisitiveness of what the sufferer must do to bring peace with their perpetrator. Standing in my knowing that stigma is poisonous.

In the face of Identity Exploration, I saw how as Humans we are collectively evolving to Spiritual Beings. Standing in my knowing that gratefulness matters.

En route I learned my most valuable life lesson, that people are not me.
They don't act like me.
They don't love like me.
They don't live like me.

Intent:

Survivor Benefits was written for my healing which I am sharing with you to create further healing in our world.

I was en route to energetically separate myself from them. I had written pages upon pages for my healing. Rereading my pages of SURVIVOR BENEFITS initially made me shake uncontrollably and eventually made me cry with a deep heartache that has finally made me strong and resilient.

About:

Survivor Benefits is my journey honoring the loss of my beloved husband.
Survivor Benefits is my journey abandoning the gift of family bullying.
Survivor Benefits is my journey of Being. Being an Iranian-American. Being an American. Being an United Statesian. Being a citizen of Humanity.
Survivor Benefits is my journey of compassion, love, and respect where I am required to only forgive and forget.
Survivor Benefits is a journey taken for all who endure, prevail, and thus begin to be.

Caution:

Read if you are pure of heart and live to enhance your soul.
Read if your heart is truthful and you strive for salvation.

Refrain if you are JUDGEment and will fall into gossip or prosecution.
Refrain if you are contrary and will fall ill from cure or healing.

Please be gentle with our collective hearts.
Please be gentle with our collective souls.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nasim Nehawandian was born in Dayton, Ohio.
While she spent part of her early childhood in Germany and Iran, Nasim was primarily raised in Carmel, California.
After the completion of her formal education in engineering at the University of California, Davis, she worked in the Silicon Valley.
Today she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her kids and runs a Community Supported Agriculture business. She loves to take hikes with her friends and her dog.