I recently held a workshop in which one of the participants stated on her feedback form, “I have struggled with the old saying “Time heals all wounds” on a subconscious level for years. On a conscious level, I’ve said to myself, come on – it’s been long enough – just get over it.  Thanks to the workshop, now I know I have to make a deliberate intent to release my hurts and pains. This was probably the most profound message I could have gotten.“

The famous saying “time heals all wounds” is not completely true. Time doesn’t always heal, it is the emotions and experiences that are allowed to arise (into conscious awareness) and are released OVER time, that heals. It is the typically a slow, deliberate, natural “drip drip drip”of emotions which allows people to resolve emotional trauma, but does not have to be.

This is a perfectly natural process, which humans have utilized since we were living in caves! It is a  process that enables one to move through at their own natural rate, depending on factors including: the perceived size of the trauma, how stressed they are, how supported they are, whether they have a loving support partner/family, whether they have good coping mechanisms and what personality type they have.

When we truly heal a painful experience, you just do not feel the same way about it today as you did then.  You no longer feel the sadness, angry, bitterness, jealousy or whatever feelings it once caused. On the other hand, if your situation was just so emotional that you simply couldn’t face it or did not have the skills/support to deal with it, you may have just tried to ignore it, stuff it down, bottle it up and move on. This is what is known as repression. Repression occurs when an emotion is so strong that the person’s psyche completely “hides it” from their consciousness. It is not forgotten but instead is totally hidden from their conscious awareness. All those emotions stay with them, buried deep, never again to be talked about or addressed as if it never happened. This inevitably can cause anxiety, phobias, depression and an overall dis-ease of the body, mind or soul.

So how do you know if you have healed the pain from a past trauma?   Take a moment to sit back, relax and focus a few moments on your breath.  Then, as vividly as possible, recall a particularly difficult situation from your past. Try and remember it all, every detail as much as possible.  Once you have it in your mind, bring your awareness to your heart.  Notice how you feel when you recall it.  See if you can identify where those feelings stored in your body?  If it has been healed, you can not and will not feel those unpleasant feelings that you once felt. If not, you will still feel residual effects to whatever degree it has not been fully released.  If that’s the case, it’s ok. Awareness is obviously a huge part of the healing process. But remember, once you truly face it, grieve  it, resolve it, and release it, it will never bother you again. Something that was traumatic, emotional, frightening, sad or painful in any way, will not have the emotional ties on you once it has been healed.

This process is wonderful for those times that you can still remember, but what about the days/experiences beyond your recollection?   These often occur when we are children and do not have the know how or support to process the traumatic events of life.  Being yelled at, ignored, ridiculed, abused, picked on, dumped, abandoned and the many other challenges we go through as a youngster often become a part of our subconscious programing, shaping the way we experience our world.

Fortunately today there are many ways available to heal and cleanse the emotional wounds from the past. Regression therapy, EFT (emotional freedom technique), shadow work, medicine plants, yoga, acupuncture, homeopathy, breath, body and energy work, psychic healing, hypnotherapy, psychotherapy and traditional counseling can all assist in removing these emotional toxins that potenially wreak havoc in our lives.

We are all being operated to a large extent by the programing of our subconscious minds.  For this reason, one of the most powerful  ways to make permanent changes in our life is to pull the weeds (heal emotional wounds) and plant new seeds (beliefs) so we may harvest new fruits on our tree of life.

In our workshops and retreats here in Koh Phangan, Thailand, we utilize fasting and other processes as tools to create the space to allow these past experiences to come bubbling to the surface. Then through a variety of techniques, we are able to release them.  The result… repressed emotions are dislodged from the depths of our being, leaving us feeling lighter and more peaceful,  body, mind and soul.  Till the next time…

Be Well,
Patrick