I think most of us have heard the phrase of nursing our wounds.
In fact, I think it's important to treat our emotional wounds just as seriously as we would a physical wound. Most of us likely hear this phrase and think of a registered nurse tending to our wounds, cleaning the wounds, wrapping the guaze, changing out our bandages in the battlefield tents, can you see it?
However, for some odd reason that is my animated funny brain... I was reading a book where the author, Robert Moss, was discussing how we repeat our tired out old stories from our past histories... the defeats, the disappointments, the heartbreaks, the abuses, the losses; he wrote,
"Either way, by nursing grief or guilt or nostalgia, we manage to go through life looking in the rear-view mirror, stuck in the past, never fully available to the present moment."
My brain did me dirty right then and flashed a picture of an older woman nursing the adult 22 year old wounded version of herself at the breast, sucking the life force energy right out of her! Ha! OMG!
This IS what we do when we live unintentinally by default. It's normal and healthy to nurse a baby or a fresh wound, but picture it, 20 years of regret and resentment as a past version of ourselves when we received a life wound being nursed and just continually sucking the life force energy right out of our present lives!?
This is SO damaging to our health: body-mind- and spirit!
Just like when nursing a baby for the purpose of nourishing the little one to grow healthy and strong, when we give our life force energy (our time and attention) to nursing our past selves stuck in an old wound we're basically giving our past pain everything it needs to keep growing and thriving.
I don't think any of us really want that.
So how do we break this habit, this skill of nursing old wounds like an infant with no end-date in sight?
I've had plenty of practice with this - eh-hem - (child abuse, deaths, divorce, etc.) so I'll share what I've learned with you here... how I appraoched healing these old wounds and created emotional resilience.
Healing and emotional stability are NOT about being a flatline! Ha! It's about your recovery time... your bounce-back created by awareness and Truth.
I've recently been going through several challenges at once, some of which were initially quite painful, but even more painful than the actual circumstances themselves were my thoughts about the events, the other people involved and myself. I'm not a "perfect" person, I'm not an enlightened being (at this time that I know of ;-) Haha! But I DO continually use these strategies below to climb my way out of any dark pit of despair I find myself at the bottom of...
1) Know your Purpose, know who you Really Are and why you're really here... then re-decide your core values and standards for living... the person you WANT to be and are becoming.
2) Gain perspective and start aligning to and practicing your values (this strategy includes ancient shamanic mindset & many options for shamanic earth-based healing practices to create awareness, connect with Source and Self, digest negative emotions, and transmute the root cause of the wounds)...
3) Dream A New Dream... engage your innate human gift of fantasy and imagination just like Viktor Frankl did... all the way to your freedom... your new life!
4) Turn Your Fantasy into Fact (Dance to the beat of your own drum ;D ...find the daily rhythms that keep you feeling connected to yourself, your heart, your soul, your Souce, your dreams and that keep your focused attention and energy on creating a deeply fulfilling life that you love.
Each of these strategies deserve their own blog, or book ;D a LOT of power resides within these strategies.
Literally your Divine human potential gets activated in here so I really encourage you to jump in and do this healing and growth work.
About a bazillion years ago... ok, maybe more like 6 years ago ;D I used an Herbal Essence to support me in releasing something specific from my past. I used a blend of Garlic, Rhubarb and one other herb that I can't recall. Using plants in meditations, herbal essences, teas or tinctures can really support our healing in powerful ways.
Garlic Spirit helps us drop our ego, the part of our identity tied into the problem so we can cut through blockages and obstacles that keep us stuck in that past and move forward into a new cycle. Garlic Spirit can help us if we find ourselves humbled and alone in this releasing of the past so we can be who we're really meant to be.
Rhubarb Spirit gets stuck energy flowing, releases the old and helps us focus on what really matters now so that we can really be in our positive Creator energy.
So basically, Garlic helps us get off our High Tower of arrogance and clinging to our righteousness in our victimhood, drop the old identity and move into awakening and self-actualization while Rhubarb helps digest the past in a way that's useful... keep what we needed to learn in a positive way and release everthing else so we can be the true co-Creators of our better tomorrows.
Remember, plants are our Teachers. When we invite plants into our lives and bodies, we're inviting wise teachers who have already successfully overcome their challenges that are symbolically likened unto our own problems, dilemas and mysteries. They instruct our body-mind-heart-souls on how to reanimate and restore the functions of our holistic health so we can fulfill our Soul's Purpose for being on this planet right now. So carry them in your pocket, a locket, a tea cup or balm, place them under your pillow to dream with and let them support your healing.
If you need support weaning off your past and creating the future of your dreams on Purpose, I'm here for you.
All of you, your humanness and your omnipotent soul.
Simply reach out: Theresa@11thHourShaman.com
Today is always the best day to get started.
I can't wait to hear from you!
Big Hugs,
Theresa