When I was very little I used to suffer a lot of with tummy ache.
This is not unusual for a young child.
Many children will complain of tummy ache when they’re feeling “off” or not right in some way.
My Mum would take me to the doctor’s, but they could never seem to find anything the matter with me.
My Mum was very persistent; she knew something wasn’t right, but each doctor we visited said the same thing.
“She’s fine, there’s nothing the matter with her”.
Even “we think she may just be doing it for attention?!”
Mother’s intuition told my Mum that something was wrong, but she just couldn’t get a doctor to investigate further.
One night, when I had just turned six, I became severely ill.
I had a sky high temperature and couldn’t stop vomiting.
So my parents whisked me off to A+E.
I was taken straight down to theatre for an emergency laparotomy – an operation where your abdomen is opened up for investigation.
They discovered that my appendix had ruptured and I had peritonitis (widespread infection of the inner lining of the abdomen).
My burst appendix was removed and I was stitched up and put on a course of strong antibiotics.
Unfortunately, because of the infection, the wound just would not heal, so I wasn’t allowed to go home.
I had to stay in hospital for weeks and weeks.
I remember that time so well, even though it was almost half a century ago.
I had some pink fluffy mule slippers I’d been bought for being a brave girl (like I had a choice) and I thought I was the bee’s knees clattering up and down the ward in them.
Perhaps that was the start of my shoe thing! 🙂
Eventually, I healed enough to come home.
Most people that have appendectomies have a nice, neat, small scar low down on their right side.
But not me – I was left with a very large, ugly scar right down the middle of my stomach.
I’m not complaining though.
50,000 people a year don’t survive a burst appendix, (yes really) so I was actually very lucky.
Why am I telling you this story?
Because the thing that nearly killed me, once healed, is now the strongest, toughest part of my body.
The scar tissue that just wouldn’t heal all those years ago, has now aged and toughened to such an extent it’s now my most indestructible part.
It will always be there, I’ll always have it, but I’m glad, because it saved my life.
Do you have wounds?
Physical or emotional.
Physical wounds like mine are easy to see, they’re obvious, but emotional wounds not so much.
Despite this, they can be just as debilitating.
Maybe, even more so in many cases.
There can be many different reasons we suffer emotional wounds.
Past abuse, trauma, disappointments, break ups, illnesses, bereavements, infidelities, things that meant a lot to us not going our way.
The vast majority of us have experienced them.
We’ve nearly all been broken at some point in time…damaged mentally.
We generally find these kinds of things so difficult to deal with, we don’t deal with them.
Most of the time, we’ve no idea where to go for the cure…the answers…so we just sweep them under the carpet and hope they’ll go away.
We find ways to move past them on the surface, but that doesn’t resolve them deep within us.
When we don’t heal them, these wounds can seep out into our lives.
They bleed.
When our wounds bleed, it’s painful…sometimes, incredibly painful.
Life becomes a lot harder.
We have to cope with present day problems AS WELL AS all of this past pain.
This affects our day to day life.
It affects our decisions.
It affects all of our relationships, especially our relationship with our self.
We become walking wounded.
We can never thrive or fulfil our potential – for life or for happiness, in this state.
We can’t build on a pile of poop.
We MUST heal these wounds if we ever want to be truly happy and build a life worth living.
So how do we do that?
We need to have an emotional detox…to do some mental hygiene.
We need to clean things up in our mind and body.
We must bring our past pains out from under the carpet and process them.
Transformation comes from letting go, not resisting.
We have to process and let go.
We really can heal any wound, no matter how deep it is, or how long ago it was.
We start by getting the poison out.
Just like with my wound in hospital…until all of the poison/infection was out, it just couldn’t heal.
Here are 5 ways you can let go and finally heal:-
- By journaling –
Writing things down massively helps us to process them.
The act of writing down what we’re feeling in our body or carrying in our mind has the effect of getting it out of our system and onto the paper.
An exercise which really helps is to take a sheet of A4 paper and write down the name of every person in your life that has ever hurt you.
If they hurt you a lot write it big, if not, write it small.
Get them all down.
You can write a few words about what they did to you, if it helps.
Then when you have it all down on paper, tear the paper into tiny pieces and burn it.
You’re burning the painful memories out of your life.
Although simple, this can be a really healing exercise.
I’ve used it myself – it works.
You can also release the pain by writing poetry or songs (A la Adele).
Get creative, if you’re that way inclined.
- By Meditating –
Meditation is a wonderful tool.
It quietens the mind like nothing else in my opinion.
You can do solo meditation, where you get yourself in a calm, relaxed state and you start to literally let go of the painful memories.
You begin to process the pain, whilst you’re in this beautiful, peaceful state.
You can ask God or the Universe or your Higher Self to help you with this.
Alternatively, you can do guided meditation.
Where another person guides and assists you with the release.
This is often much more powerful.
My deep alpha Morning and Evening Meditations were designed SPECIFICALLY for this situation.
Why not check them out.
- By Counselling/Therapy –
Talk therapy, or counselling is a wonderful way to have an emotional detox.
You can contact a trained professional, or you can approach a kind, wise trusted friend or family member if you have one.
Verbalising and vocalising your feelings on past issues can work wonders.
Just start to open up, then let it all flow out.
While it’s flowing, you start the healing process.
- By Tapping/EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) –
I flipping Love this modality.
It is so effective for releasing the trapped emotion behind painful memories.
It looks a little strange, I must admit, but boy is it powerful.
If you’re interested in learning more about Tapping go here to my Tapping page.
I’ve been a Tapping Practitioner since 2013.
The lady in our image above is Tapping while she’s walking.
I do this too!
- By Hypnotherapy –
I’ve been using hypnotherapy to release pain and heal wounds for 15+ years.
So much of the pain is trapped in the subconscious mind and NOTHING speaks to the subconscious like hypnosis.
Hypnotherapy may seem a little woo-woo for some of you, but it’s a healthy, naturally-occurring state that we all go into many many times a day.
It’s completely safe and feels amazing!
The most relaxed you’ll ever be awake.
I can’t recommend it highly enough.
All of these methods work, individually AND collectively.
If I have an issue I’m dealing with, I’ll use all 5 of them.
This isn’t just a one-and-done; we have to keep mentally detoxing for the rest of our lives.
I jokingly call it cleaning the kitchen.
We have to clean the kitchen every day to keep it spick and span, well that’s the same with our mental hygiene.
We slay our old dragons, and then we slay our new dragons whilst they are still babies 🙂
We don’t give them chance to grow into big dragons!
If you’d like any help with healing your wounds, get in touch.
Time to clean your kitchen!
Much Love
Christina xx