The Healing Process
Healing is like a seed. Or wait…it’s like the stuff that engulfs corn. What's that shit called? A husk? A corn suit? Not entirely sure.
But, the point is: that healing has protective properties to it. And like the corn suit, these protective properties are there to prevent further damage from external stimuli. The problemo, however, is that the event has passed and the husk is no longer needed to the extent it was used for — so instead of being protective, it becomes annoying. Kind of like finding an eggshell in your smashed avo toastee.
If the process of healing was a quick fix, it would be far too easy to slip back to common patterns that led to the initial phase of healing in the first place.
Healing requires you to keep the ‘trauma’ in mind — but not obsess because that wouldn’t be of much help either. But it urges you to grow from observation. To grow from awareness. To grow by being aware of yourself. Most importantly, it requires the precondition of absolute honesty and truth.
Something that has helped me deal with recent trauma(s) is keeping the lesson in mind — your one or two words that become mental hooks to give you a nudge back into the present moment. A personal example is: Let Go.
Let Go reminds me to “trade my expectations for appreciation” (dankie Tony Robbins) and just sink into whatever arises without trying to control what is beyond my capacity.
I would love to hear from you. What are your one or two words — can even be a sentence or two — that have been gifted to you by your higher self from your adversities or failures?
I’ll leave you with this piece from a book that I’m revisiting and re-enjoying, The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt:
“When heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on any man, it will exercise his mind with suffering, subject his sinews and bones to hard work, expose his body to hunger, put him to poverty, place obstacles in the paths of his deeds, so as to stimulate his mind, harden his nature, and improve wherever he is incompetent” –MENG TZU
Catch you in the comments,
Josh.
Hey! Thanks for indulging in my writing. If you want to receive updates, I have a weekly newsletter, The Weekly Brew, which goes out every Sunday. It’s mainly a recap of the weeks blog posts or other shit that I have written or created or…whatever. You get the point. Would love if you signed up.
What if the worst thing that has ever happened to you is actually the best?
What if your pain/suffering created roots so deep that no amount of wind can uplift the essence your spirit lives in?What if you let go of trying to think your way out of your trauma and trust in your body’s ability to heal itself? Turning the thing that turned you into the thing that transformed and informed you — that is the embodiment of Post-Traumatic Self Compassion.