The Float

A Hidden Map of Healing

There’s a small object in the world of fishing.
It’s called a float--
a simple bobbing indicator that tells you when something has taken the bait.
It rests on the surface of the water.
But what it really measures
is what’s happening beneath.
In the same way, we each carry a float within us--
not on the surface,
but below the visible line of our lives.
It lives at the edge of our healing.

The Float Beneath the SurfaceWhen we are hurt—physically, emotionally, spiritually--
we often suppress it.
Not always by choice.
Sometimes we have to move on.
Sometimes we don’t have the tools, the time, or the safety to face it.
So instead, we adapt.
We lower the float.
And we keep living as if we are still wounded--
even long after the wound has closed.
Our body may be whole,
but our float is still sunk.
It becomes the invisible standard we live by:

• "I can’t trust.”
• "I don’t deserve more.”
• "I must stay guarded.”
• "I am still broken.”

Even if healing is available,
we don’t let ourselves rise.
Because to rise too fast feels suspicious.
Too good. Too unfamiliar. Too unsafe.

The Body Remembers the DepthThe nervous system remembers.
The muscles remember.
The breath remembers.
The float doesn’t just measure what is--
it reflects what was.
And even when your circumstances change,
your inner float may still be underwater,
held there by old beliefs, fear, or emotional habit.
This is why healing isn’t instant.
Not because it can’t be--
but because we often don’t allow it to be.
There’s a hidden loyalty to our suffering.
A fear of letting go too soon.
A subconscious grief of leaving behind an identity
we wore for so long.

The Float Rises SlowlyBut healing begins the moment you choose to stop pressing it down.
Even slightly.

• When you pause and breathe.
• When you choose presence over distraction.
• When you say “yes” to something gentle.
• When you allow yourself to feel even a little bit of joy.
• When you stop blaming yourself for how long it's taking.

Each of these is a signal to the float:
“It’s safe to rise now.”
And the float responds.
Slowly.
Delicately.
Sometimes imperceptibly.
But day by day, the water stirs.
The line loosens.
The light hits the surface.
And the float begins to return.
You may not even notice it at first.
You just feel a little lighter.
A little clearer.
A little less like a prisoner of your past.

Until One Day—You RiseAnd one day--
the float touches the surface again.
And you realize:
You are no longer carrying the weight.
The wound is no longer the center of your story.
You are free to be whole.
To rise without guilt.
To live without explaining.
To heal—fully.

This is the Float.A symbol of your inner readiness.
A quiet guide from beneath.
A barometer of your nervous system’s trust in life again.
Don’t force it.
Don’t fake it.
Just keep loosening the grip.
Healing doesn’t mean forgetting.
It means allowing yourself to rise.
And when the float finds the surface,
so do you.