Healing Pain
Every pain we have, whether it's physical body pain or emotional heartache, has a story that involves our past. Our bodies are like a library of stories, some really wonderful and some not so wonderful. It's the not so wonderful stories in our lives that get our attention by creating pain in our bodies or in our hearts so that we can heal these stories, perhaps write a final chapter to the story, or maybe even see the story with new eyes and completely change our perspective of the story. Often times, when I'm working with my clients, whether it's over the phone or in person, I hear the stories, beliefs or feelings that are being held in a particular area of their bodies. When I share the story or words I hear with my clients it brings it to their consciousness so it can be looked at. And sometimes just talking about the story or feeling seems to loosen it from a client's body and energetic field and it begins to move and become free and the pain disappears. I was working with a man who had a fair amount of back pain. It had suddenly gotten much worse and was pretty debilitating. I worked with him over the phone and instantly felt a tremendous amount of fear in the area of his body where it was most painful. I asked him if there was anything particular going on in his life where he was experiencing fear. He shared with me the many books and news reports that he was reading and watching that were all fear based. He also was able to express everything he was really afraid of. We came up with a plan with a list of other books that were more uplifting and hopeful and a plan to limit the amount of time he spent watching the news. We also looked at his fears and categorized them as to which ones he had no control over and which ones he could actually alleviate by taking certain actions. Within a couple of weeks, his pain was gone. We can actually feel quite paralyzed in our lives by pain, no matter what type of pain it is. And we don't often realize that there are actions that we are making through out our day that is generating the emotion or feeling attached to this pain. So it's not enough, in my opinion, to release pain, but we also need to become conscious of our actions related to this pain so we don't recreate the story over and over again. So how do we do this? Working on healing yourself really requires opening up to your right brain. Unfortunately, our culture acknowledges rational thought much more than intuitive insight. So here's the thing, when we try to heal ourselves through our left brain, we have access to ONLY the information that we have learned. But what about all the information that we don't know? There's so much we don't know and accessing your right brain may offer you insight or information that you would have never thought of. When it comes to healing pain, it's such an individual experience and using the information we have gathered from statistics or research doesn't mean it is true for your situation. I worked with a child once who was encountering paralyzing fear in her life and it was resulting in so much struggle and heartache. I was aware of her story and that it most likely originated from a past life, but didn't feel it would be helpful to share it with her at such a young age. I encouraged her to write a story and she ended up writing a historically accurate play but completely changed the ending to what was "her story". She changed the ending from what was a horrific outcome to a beautiful ending. Her fears dissolved and has gone on to create a beautiful life. This is an incredible example of working with the creative and intuitive mind to heal past trauma. So while it may be difficult for some of you to access your right brain through writing, doing what I call intuitive art is another great tool. It's a lot like being in the same mindset you're in when you're mindlessly doodling while talking on the phone. Whatever it is you draw, tells your story and gives insight to your unconscious world. I was working with a young man who had a difficult time and he drew a picture of a troll in a cave, hidden from the world. After looking at his drawing, he realized that the troll was a part of himself that he kept hidden away. I suggested he draw another picture and consciously take the troll out of its cave. He did, and this time the troll was standing out in the sunshine holding an ice cream cone. It really helped him to recognize how he was keeping his little boy self locked away. So whether it's drawing your story, or writing your story, you can find what you need to heal your pain.