Ceremony part 6

As Tayo is healing from his PTS, his triggers are fading away. Tayo is seeing things in a new light. "The valley was green, from the yellow sandstone mesas in the northwest to the black lava hills to the south. But it was not the green color of the jungles, suffocating and strangling the Earth. The new growth covered the Earth lightly, each blade of grass, each leaf and stem with space between as if planted by a thin summer wind." (Leslie Marmon Silko 203).  The green that once made him think of the horror he endured during war had turned into life and growth. It is now a happy and uplifting connection. Tayo is able to relax and enjoy things that once sent his mind to the darkest places. "The terror of the dreaming he had once had done on this bed was gone, uprooted from his belly; and the women had filled the hollow spaces with new dreams" (Silko 204). Tayo used to lay in that bed and the sound of the old springs would take him back to the hospital or to a coffin, but now she has helped him replace though thoughts with new dreams and new memories that relate him to a bed. Tayo is noticing a change in the weather and it is no longer triggering his PTS. "Only the sky had changed, washed clear of the dust and haze which had swirled off the red clay flats the summer before. He could smell wild flowers growing in the weeds and grass beside the road, and he heard the big bumblebees and the smaller bees sucking the blossoms" (Silko 204). Tayo is seeing the growth and new life that is coming from the weather and not letting it take him back to the jungles of the Philippines. He is embracing the life around him and living connected to it.

Tayo has a new and positive outlook now that his PTS is less effective on his life. He is starting to see the brighter side of things. "He was overwhelmed by the love he felt for her; tears filled his eyes and the ache in his throat ran deep in his chest. He ran down the hill to the river, though the light rain until the pain faded like fog mist. He stood and watched the rainy dawn, and he knew he would find her again" (Silko 202). Instead of focusing on the rain and his old trigger he is optimistic for his future and finding the women again. He is embracing the Earth and letting that overwhelm him instead for is trauma from the past. Tayo is becoming more aware of the life around him. "He knelt over the arching tracks the snake left in the sand and filled the delicate imprints with yellow pollen. As far as he could see, in all directions, the world was alive. He could feel the motion pushing out of the damp Earth into the sunshine" (Silko 205). He notices the life within the Earth and it gives him a feeling of happiness and hope. He can relate to being trapped under something damp and hopeless and is now reaching for the sunshine. The women has been his connection to the Earth and she is bring out this new sense of security. "The sunlight moved up and down his back like hands, and he felt the muscles in his neck and belly relax; he lay down beside the pool, across from her, and closed his eyes" (Silko 206). The PTS and stories that lingered in his belly have subsides and he is now free to relax. Tayo  is embracing life instead of fearing it.