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Posts by Lauren Erickson-Viereck

Lauren is a Montessori teacher in Bozeman, Montana, where she lives with her partner of five years and their furry rescue mutt. She loves to be on the wild earth, from warm oceans to alpine peaks, and treasures human connection across background and experience. Lauren believes in writing and breathing through pain and peace.

What to Do When You Love Someone Who Hurts You

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“Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know.” ~Pema Chödrön

There is a person in my life who I love with all my heart, but in this relationship I struggle to keep a full cup myself. They are family, the situation is complicated and tender. But learning to have compassion for this other person begins with having compassion for myself.

A nasty divorce spanning most of my childhood set the stage for our current situation. My mother was deeply emotionally wounded by my father, and carried that pain into her parenting of my …