The Tortured Heart

The Tortured Heart overdevelops spikes to keep harm doers away, but later, as a result, it finds itself lonely in its harshest battles, with some spikes even impaling backwards, causing self-inflicted wounds and additional setbacks.

Risk is part of the game, and an Open Heart is essential for building healthy relationships. It is crucial to relearn when to drop the spikes and when to regrow them.

The intention with this image is to represent how trauma can lead to extreme self-defense mechanisms, resulting in isolation and behaviors that may lead to self-harm. Note that, even though this overprotection is natural to some extent, when ready, one should become flexible again. We are social creatures after all and we all deserve to be happy.