The Messy Art of Healing

In a world full of imperfect people, how unfortunate it is that we don’t embrace the messiness that comes with it??

Healing being one of them. If the trauma we endure is ugly and complex why do we portray healing as graceful and simple?

The internet likes to paint this picture of healing as linear & formulaic with meditation and 1 line mantras guiding us toward salvation.

In all fairness, all of those things CAN be a part of one’s healing process. But it is such a small fraction. Like 1/100 of the process.

For me, healing has been so much messier than what we read in books or see on social media.

Messy, ugly, gut-wrenching.

It is so raw, it hurts. Every touch feels like a lightning strike. Every noise, deafening. Until it’s not.

When I was told what I was experiencing was my heart & soul beginning to heal, I wanted to run for the hills — this was not what I signed up for. The voice in my head, the fearful one, told me I needed to quit while I was ahead, there was no way I was going to survive this.

Then there was that other voice. The courageous one, that said, “Remember who you are…” the person who never relents, who is survived this much and can survive even more. A person who yes, is absurd, strange, imperfect, ridiculous but also brave and lovable and capable.

Most people may never know that you have healed something so deep inside of you it feels like you’ve been born anew. Do it anyway. You get to rewrite your story, one full of love and gratitude.

Remember: healing is an upwards spiral: “We cannot stand in the same river twice.”

B 🤍

Originally published at http://prisonerbynocrimeofmyown.com on November 29, 2022.