The thought of healing from trauma; including a trauma bond from a narcissistic relationship, may seem scary. Just thinking about dealing with it in any way makes us think: “Nope, I’m not going there — ever again”.
The other day I spoke with a woman who said she couldn’t recall her entire childhood because “it was so traumatic”. She said she tried to get hypnotherapy to go deep and resolve her lost memories, but she blocked it with the belief that she’d have to relive it all over again.
But that’s misleading. There’s no need to go through emotional pain again in order to heal.
Trauma is stored at the subconscious level of the mind, and often gets buried. Then it manifests into toxic relationships, weight issues, PTSD, “dis-ease”, alcoholism and other problems in our life when we suppress it.
However, there’s ways to work with the subconscious mind that helps us relieve trauma in a healing way. Here are some approaches that go deep for trauma relief:
- The subconscious mind likes metaphors, so we can relax and imagine our emotional pain being “washed away” by waterfalls, ocean waves or other pleasant thoughts of crystal-clear water that “dilutes” the experience.
- We can talk to our “inner child” and reassure them, imagine holding them, or other conversations and gestures to soothe our negative experiences.
- If we’re blocking memories and want to uncover the source of the trauma, we can recall a memory from a different perspective and without emotional pain. (It’s all in how we communicate with our mind to let it know that we don’t need to relive the emotional side of it.)
When we have the right guidance, healing from trauma is like soothing a wound with a salve so that it can heal, rather than pouring salt into it and making it worse. But first, we need to let go of the fear and beliefs that block the results we crave when we’re afraid of going down that road.
Getting the right help will take us down the path to see what we want to see, heal what we need to heal without reliving it, and discovering relief that sets us free from our “trauma prison”.
But before we work with someone, we should check out their references, and have a conversation with them to see if it “feels right”. We’ve got to feel comfortable in order to be able to get comfortable enough to go deep.
Because going deep is where the healing happens. Feeling confident in the person who’s guiding us will help to build our own confidence in ourselves. Having support from someone who’s been through it helps too, because we know that they “get” us.
Having the right combination of trust, belief and clarity will take us far in our healing journey. Because the truth is: It’s indeed a journey, and not a one-stop experience of getting it all done in an instant.
It takes time to “peel away” the layers that we’ve built up over the years. But it’s worth it to uncover the that part of us that got buried under the rubble of life.
When we give ourselves a chance to rediscover our lost selves, we set ourselves free into the world where we can shine our own unique light. We get to enjoy life, and the lives of people we touch benefits them as well.
PS: Ready to heal and shine your light into the world? Schedule your Time to Thrive call and we’ll look at your goals, reality and options to get on track now. Schedule your call here. Also, sign up for my next live event here.