The Emotional Healing Question – a Re-Frame

I mean, EVERYBODY has emotional healing they could do. It's true that in some cases, our emotional stuck-places are the most significant reason we're ill. Sometimes they're just one piece of the puzzle, one tree fallen across the stream, one straw on the back. I do believe that in all cases, those stuck-places restrict our full availability to life.

But please. Nobody's free of “emotional components.”

Just because you're sick doesn't mean you have any more, or more serious, emotional wounding than your symptom-free friends.

Just because you're STILL sick and no one's got a clear physical explanation, that doesn't mean you've somehow neglected or resisted getting into your emotional “work,” or that you're in some kind of denial. Finding and transforming your unhealthy mental/emotional patterns isn't (always) something you just DECIDE to do, and then you do it, and then you're cured. It's usually a process. It's mysterious. It's surprising. It's got layers.

For myself, I prefer to hold openness to the ways emotional healing can bring relief. Lighten the load. Open up possibilities. Re-connect. Even when it doesn't dramatically change my physical health, I don't mind its side effects: greater peace and strength, more capacity to live fully, and a softening heart.

So if the first question has ever made you uncomfortable, that's understandable. But if the second question invites you to explore some healing, that might just be a true blessing.

Dreamwork is one of my favorite avenues of emotional healing and growth, for myself and for my clients.

I've also benefited greatly from the body-mind therapy approaches of Hakomi and Somatic Experiencing, and from practicing meditation. Recently I'm getting intrigued by Family Constellation work. I encourage you to follow your own inclinations, to follow your own heart to your heart's healing.