This journey I’ve chosen – this healing thing? It’s not for sissies. What does that mean? Well, rather than seeing your feelings, emotions and vulnerability as weakness, you’re going to have to understand those things as your strengths, and you’re going to have to get your warrior on. Because feeling is healing. And most of us were taught that feelings are something to hide, stuff or ignore.
Authentic healing is about feeling. Everything. The good, bad, ugly…and…illegal amounts of joy. Because if you want one end of the spectrum, you’ve got to be okay with feeling it all. Yin yang man, you know? You can’t have the light without the dark, blah, blah, blah. But it’s true. So to get good at joy, you need to be able to feel pain.
But I’m going to twist this one all up on you now. We’re so fucking good at the suffering, I think some of us have forgotten the joy. We know this stuff about the pain already. We aren’t really afraid to cry anymore. We’re finally teaching our kids they can feel. Well, maybe some of us are. But when it comes to exuberant laughter? It’s been a while since I heard some of that.
What is it about full-on expression that puts people into this instant dark box of shame? Laugh a little too loud? God forbid. Scream, shout and rage? Oh, no, no, no…you need to calm down, put a lid on that please. Yell “Fuuuuuuuuuck Yeeeeeeeees!!!!!” at the top of your lungs? Um, come with me…we need to make sure you don’t do that again.
Oh the chains…can you feel them? What creates that feeling of shame or embarrassment in you? Do you feel a time from when you were a child that you weren’t allowed to speak up, scream, cry, shout, or laugh? We’re you told to keep quiet? Not make too much noise? We’re you sent to the office for doing such things? To your room for a timeout? We’re you slapped for talking back, expressing your opinion?
We’re so afraid to be ourselves we’ve shut down the best, most important, creative, joyful parts of ourselves because we’re worried about what other people will think, about breaking their rules, about ….what? What the Hell are we afraid of, really?
Authentic healing isn’t for sissies because it requires us to feel the amazing, joyful, ecstatic, rapturous, sexy parts of us, and understand just how long we’ve kept her down. That’s sad. When I really, truly connect with how long I’ve kept myself from singing, dancing, loving, and expressing the real, true, crazy, wild me…well, that’s just fucking depressing.
I’m taking responsibility though. I’ve done so much healing work in the past few decades. I’ve peeled layers I didn’t know existed. Only to go deeper and find more. So I decided while I’m on the journey for the root of all wounds, I might as well experience a little joy too. And you know what? Bliss goes as high as pain goes deep. You ready for that kinda fun?
I am.
Let’s go. Grab my hand. Tell me in the comments what parts of you you’ve suppressed, caged, tied up or suffocated and give me a primal scream of “Enough!” I can take it.
If you’re in or near Bethesda – you might want to join my colleague Phil Tavolacci and I – we’re doing this healing thing and we’re bringing our experience to you in workshop form. We know it takes courage and guidance to do this work and we’ve made it our life’s journey to help you. You can read about The Brave Healing Workshop HERE.
Laura Probert, MPT is a holistic physical therapist, published author, poet, and black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She’s serious about integrating mind, body and soul as a journey to passion and power and it’s her mission to show you how. You can find her writing featured in places like The Huffington Post, MindBodyGreen, Best Self Magazine, The Wellness Universe, Wild Sister Magazine, PersonalGrowth.com, Tiny Buddha and The Elephant Journal. Find her books and programs at www.BraveHealer.com and www.facebook.com/kickasswarriorgoddess
