“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself.
Caroline Myss
The challenge is to silence the mind.“
Many disciplines seek to heal our physical bodies and emotional wounds, but nothing is more life-changing for mind and body than the healing you are able to do by yourself, for yourself.
No matter how tough or resilient we may be, we all have painful wounds and scars that accumulate over the years — starting from our early days of childhood that only our subconscious remembers.
Healing is essential to living a happy, healthy, and meaningful life because we cannot be our truest, best selves, if we are unable to see that we are bleeding.
Pain that remains undealt with becomes suffering, and when we suffer, our subconscious mind takes control. Have you ever been triggered by something harmless and afterwards realized that you may have overreacted? That is your subconscious mind talking — not you.
We are taught to combat pain with toughness; to be harder than the pain, but that is no way to live. In fact, most of our explosive reactions, from insignificant nuisances to fiery arguments, stem from parts of us that we have yet to uncover — pain that we have yet to heal. True strength lies in courageously diving into the pain, accepting it, and learning from it.
When we accept pain as our teacher, we gain the ability to grow and to heal, and when we do that it affects all areas of our lives like a positive ripple effect. Sometimes, in order to move forward, we must first look backward and that is what healing is all about.
Below we have shared 4 alternative ways to heal your wounds and scars that you can practice on an everyday basis without the need for a doctor’s appointment. You may think of it as a form of self-therapy. Please take from it what you can and share it with the people in your life who needs to hear it.
1 | Practice Forgiveness
Finding forgiveness can be a daunting place of pain and confusion. You understand that someone has hurt you, but do they deserve your forgiveness? What if what they did was unforgiveable? Are you supposed to “let them off the hook” just like that? The short answer is yes! Here’s why…
Regardless of who is to blame, holding on to pain and resentment drags you down. It is a pain that was never yours to carry in the first place, but now you bear the burden on your shoulders. Forgiving is not for them, it is for you ; it is an expression of self-love. Forgiveness is the anti-dote for becoming bitter and reactive.
When you come to understand that lesson, you access a higher level of being where emotional pain isn’t a bad thing. If someone hurts you, you understand that it was never actually about you. You know not to take it personal because it is merely projection of their own unaware mental state.
Most people have 2-3 people in their lives who we really need to forgive, but forgiveness is also practiced on a smaller, day-to-day basis. Everyday, whether it’s at the workplace, while navigating rush hour traffic, at the grocery store, or in the household among the people we love the most, we face unfortunate irritations that often hold too much space in our minds.
Here are a few examples of people you could forgive that you may recognize from your daily life:
• Your draconian boss
• The guy that just skipped the line at the grocery store
• Your parent’s lack of understanding
• The rude waitress
• Your untimely friend
• A manipulative ex
• Your child’s hurtful words
• The angry driver who just yelled at you
• Your competitors and enemies
• Your partner’s forgetfulness
All these people have one thing in common: Their actions have nothing to do with you. Practicing forgiveness is understanding that these people are all battling their own internal demons and isn’t currently available to show up as their best selves.
Their reactions are not your concern as long as you act out of love and compassion. Do not hand them the power to drag you down or weigh on your mind. Forgive them and forgive the unfortunate situations in your daily life.
If you recognize these themes, we invite you to check out our brand new forgiveness workbook where you will find helpful exercises, relatable quotes, and a forgiveness quiz to determine where you are on your journey towards forgiveness.
2 | Heal through Nature
Surround yourself with beauty — or rather pay attention to the beauty that surrounds you.
Surprisingly, we tend to forget all about the enormous backdrop that we call Earth. We get caught up in the rush of our lives, entangled in expectations and distractions of society mixed with our own dreams and aspirations, and suddenly we are blind to the Universe’s eternal beauty. In that moment, we also detach from our own beauty.
When we take the time to truly appreciate the nature around us, something amazing happens…
EXAMPLE: During lunch break, you go for a walk and notice a single bird soaring high in the sky. You wonder what it would be like to fly that high and feel the wind ruffle the feathers on your wings — truly magnificent. And how miraculous is the sky itself? Endless, ever-changing and majestic.
You realize that walking here on this street, on this planet, breathing this air is a miracle itself. The fact that your heart is beating and your blood is flowing is an absolute miracle. How is it even possible? As you feel a deep sensation of gratitude, a warm feeling of lightness spreads from your belly throughout your body. ‘Thank you,’ you mumble with a subtle smile before heading back to work.
When is the last time you said ‘thank you’ to your beating heart, the sun, or the bird in the sky? Nature deserves our utmost respect, gratitude, and awe because of its unmatched divinity. It also reminds us of the insignificance of our own being and suddenly our personal problems don’t feel quite as overshadowing.
Fortunately, we do not need to travel far and beyond to appreciate nature. All we have to do is go outside and there it is. Beauty is all around us when we open our minds. The beauty around us activates the beauty inside us, and we ultimately reach the understanding that it is all okay.
When we are in tune with nature, nature is in tune with us, and appreciating it can actually be energizing, empowering, and of course healing.
3 | Inner Child Work
Are you familiar with inner child work? If not, now is the time…
Your inner child is the innocent being that still — whether you are aware of it or not — lives inside you today. Take a moment to picture the gentle, smiling toddler you were as a child. When you visualize it, you can feel the unconditional love beaming from that little child like a ray of light. Go ahead, close your eyes…
That child had zero worries, didn’t judge anyone, and lived in complete alignment with their emotions. That child is still you, and he/she loves you dearly. In fact, it is the very core of you.
Over time, usually somewhere in our years of adolescence, we become separated from our inner child. We are told not to be childish or immature and as adults, we are expected to be serious and professional. We must be presentable to the judging eyes of society. And of course, ‘big T trauma’ is a definite catalyst for this process.
We inevitably learn that the world is not as loving and gentle as our true nature, and we must find a way to deal with pain, so we adapt. We become tougher so we can deal with a tough reality. It is Survival 101, and sometimes, this adjustment is actually necessary for a child to survive.
Regardless, this separation from our core and true, loving self causes emotional damage. This is a major reason why many grow bitter, cynical, or uninspired, simply going through the motions of a tailored life we may have never wanted.
Being connected with your inner child is important because it ensures the exact opposite. When you practice lightness, playfulness, and consciously choose to feel the love of the little child, you are re-connecting with your inner child. You are healing yourself.
It is amazing what happens when we mentally “travel back in time” and have a conversation with ourselves as a 5-year-old, 15-year-old, or even 25-year-old. Offer your younger self empathy and compassion and invite in the great release of emotions that this brings.
Your inner child’s journey can be divided into 4 sub-categories:
1) Inner child: Your soul’s purest state of freedom, safety, imagination, non-judgement, and unconditional love.
2) Wounded inner child: The state you enter once “the real world hits” when faced with pain.
3) Adaptive inner child: The tough version of you that develops unhealthy defense mechanisms to cope with pain.
4) Healed inner child: A conscious return to your inner child through healing.
Most people live in their ‘adaptive inner child’ phase for most of their life without ever knowing it. So how do we arrive at the last and most important phase? One way to get there is through the power of creating conscious habits.
4 | Create Conscious Habits
As adults, we hold the power and responsibility to heal and grow as individuals. Everyday, we are presented with hundreds of opportunities to do so, but because we habitually do just as we did yesterday, we often fail to recognize these opportunities. How are we supposed to grow if we are blind to change?
Of course, there are obligations which we have to complete like going to work, picking up the kids, or taking care of household duties etc., but when these have-to’s are completed, there should be made room for “filling your own cup”. When our cup is filled is when we expand our capacity to heal ourselves and the world around us.
We invite you to try this exercise:
EXERCISE
1) Grab a pen and a double-sided sheet of paper. Take a few deep breaths before beginning.
2) Write down a specific, detailed list of all the things you spend time on on an average day. Remember
to be completely honest with yourself for best results.
3) Next, ask yourself: Which of the activities on the list are not in alignment with who you want to
be? Which of them are in any way holding you back from healing? Cross these out.
4) Now, flip the page and write a new list where you replace the crossed-out habits with new ones that progress your
healing journey and fuel you with energy. If in doubt of what to replace it with, find inspiration on this list:
• Meditation
• Reading, writing, and journaling
• Practicing presence
• Learning forgiveness
• Yoga or intentional movement
• Breathwork
• Expressing your gratitude
• Sound healing
• Sitting in stillness
• Connecting with nature
• Making kindness, compassion, and non-judgment a habit
• Working on active listening
The most important thing with this exercise is that you become aware of what brings you energy and what takes it away. What are your distractions and what is your soul actually asking for instead? Make your daily life a conscious routine designed to heal and grow.
These are all healing-related practices some of which you should make room for daily. When we do things that are rooted in love, our core, we become a little more whole; a little more healed.
Food for Thought…
There are many different approaches to heal that all attempt to fix, cure, repair, and cleanse our physical bodies and emotional wounds. Seeing a professional can be helpful, but real healing is something that we do “behind the scenes” everyday.
To do so, we must first listen to our pain. Pain is our greatest teacher if only we are willing to listen. When we listen and accept, we heal. Remember that mind and body are one; they are interconnected, so if you heal your mind, it similarly boosts your physical health and vice versa.
Remember: If there is anything you have been wanting to do or pushing off, today is the day! We never know if tomorrow is here.
Please share this article with anyone you think might need to hear this and follow us on socials for more guidance and wisdom. Thank you for you time!
— Guides for Growth