Sacred Ashes by T. D. Amber

The Flames of Wisdom

There comes a moment when silence feels heavier than words, when healing doesn’t look like light, but like fire.

Sacred Ashes is a deeply intimate journey through the layers of emotion we often hide: quiet grief, unseen resilience, and the aching beauty of transformation. In her signature voice – raw, reflective, and poetic – T.D. Amber invites you into her inner world, one journal entry at a time.

This is a mirror – a companion for anyone walking the tightrope between who they were and who they are becoming.

With essays that read like confessions, blending fiction and reflections that feel like home, T. D. Amber explores identity, purpose, inner child healing, divine timing, and the kind of spiritual awakening that doesn’t happen all at once, but breath by breath.

Whether you’ve struggled to be understood, carried invisible weight, or felt called to something greater without knowing why, this book meets you exactly where you are – to walk beside you as you remember your way forward.

Sacred Ashes is not about escaping the fire.

It’s about learning you were the spark all along.

This is not a tale of light as a savior, but of darkness made sacred.

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Excerpt from Sacred Ashes © Copyright 2025 T. D. Amber

They’re Lying to You About Time

Many people believe that time is what heals you. That as time goes on, the pain you feel will slowly dissipate until you won’t feel anything at all.

The truth is, time does not heal you; it just gives you a chance to suppress your trauma. The only thing that can heal you is you.

There have been moments where I was so desperate to rid myself of the feeling of being left behind that I made the first move in the complete opposite direction of what I knew I was meant for. I ended up miserable all over again because I put myself right back into the situation I wanted out of.

Why did I go back to a place that made me so depressed? Because it was familiar. It was inside my comfort zone.

I was too scared to do the healing work I knew I needed to do. Instead, I went down the road I had already experienced because it felt secure. It was as if I walked in a circle instead of simply taking a different path.

It wasn’t until I went through another period of stagnation that I realized I had the power to do things differently this time. It took a great deal of time and patience for me to understand why I kept finding myself in situations where I wasn’t able to move forward.

I knew that I was meant to be on a different path, and my reality was making it abundantly obvious. I just didn’t want to face the signs.

After a while of playing blind, I decided that enough was enough and sat down to really try to heal and figure out what the hell was happening to my life. It was then I realized there was so much within me that was waiting to be alchemized.

I used to wholeheartedly believe that time heals everything, but now I know that time doesn’t heal anything.

At one point in my life, I believed that time was my best friend because the things that once caused me great pain no longer did.

What I didn’t understand was that while the clock was ticking, my pain was digging itself deeper into my soul.

I wasn’t healing as time went on; I was tucking away the pain until it became bearable. I had triggers that made the emotional wounds resurface, but I never thought anything of it.

Why rehash an old wound that isn’t bothering me in my everyday life?

Except it was bothering me. It was impacting who I was to my very core, and I didn’t even realize it.

Pain resurfaces as a response to triggers because the wound is begging to be acknowledged. I felt the desperation in the shadows of the old versions of myself. They were begging to be set free, and only I had the power to grant them that wish.

Time may soften the pain of grief, but without your conscious efforts, the shadows of your trauma will always haunt you.

Do you know how terrifying that realization is to come to? It is yet another reminder that absolutely nothing can heal us besides ourselves. The responsibility is purely on us.

I wept my heart out when I came to this conclusion. No one can save us from our misery, not even the magnificent force of time. We are our own prisoners and liberators. With great power comes great fear, and I can’t deny that the thought of me being my only hope still terrifies me.

On the bright side, there is no time limit on healing, because the process is eternal. I truly believe that even after we’re dead and our souls return home, there will still be healing to do on the other side.

I think a problem many people face, including myself, is trying to rush the process, either because the pain is unbearable or because they want to reap the fruits of their labor without actually doing the labor.

Self-imposed time limits only create a false sense of urgency and pressure you into healing so rapidly that you don’t properly address the wounds before moving on. When I realized that my impatience was causing more harm than good to my healing journey, I took a step back and learned to sit with the sorrow. You can’t run from pain, unfortunately.

How can you hide from the very thing that lives within you?