Many people want to release their emotional wounds. They think, “If I could just get rid of my emotional pain, my life would be so much better.” There are a number of self-help methods that focus on releasing unwanted or painful emotions.
I believe that emotional healing is a two-step process. First, you release the problem emotion. Then, you reclaim the emotion or quality you desire. Do you need to reclaim your creativity, your adventure, your peace of mind, your power, etc.
Have you lost touch with your positive emotions?
What we can learn from bad habits
Have you ever wanted to change a bad habit. Experts tell us that it takes 21 days to change a habit.
For most of us it is difficult to simply stop doing a behavior. And if we want to make that change a habit, we need to stop for 21 days. This can prove stressful. It is easier to replace a bad habit with a new desirable one.
Here’s an example. If you have developed the habit of wasting time playing video games and you just stop, you may find yourself surfing the web or watching TV instead. A better strategy would be choosing a new positive behavior to replace playing video games. Positive behaviors might include spending time with your family, exercising, or improving your education.
How this applies to emotional healing
If you release an emotional wound do you know what new emotion you will experience in the future?
Emotional wounds usually limit us in some way. They can affect our relationships, our career or our self-esteem. If you release a fear of intimacy, you may need to cultivate more trust and acceptance. If you release a fear of failure (or success), you may need to cultivate more personal power and confidence. If you release a feeling of not being good enough, you may need to develop self-acceptance and self-love. You get the idea.
Do you want to leave your new emotion to chance?
What happens when we are emotionally wounded
Many of our emotional wounds occur at young ages. Not only do we acquire a wound, but we lose a part of ourselves. It is like a piece of our heart dies. If the wound is severe, our younger self can become frozen in time and completely cut off. We often lose our best emotions and qualities.
Think about your life. Do you feel that you have lost an important part of yourself?
How the poetry of emotion process can help
The poetry of emotion is a three-step process that engages your deepest emotions. This process works with the poetic language of emotion.
1. You discover your emotional wound and describe it using metaphors and images. This is a poetic description.
2. You find a time before you were wounded. This younger self has the emotions and qualities you need.
3. Using the power of a story, you release the emotional wound and reclaim the emotions of your younger self. Your younger self did not go through the problem event, so he or she is whole and complete and can help you heal.
The poetry of emotion process can help. You can use the free information on this site. You can purchase a workbook that walks you though the process using an easy fill-in-the-blank format. You can take a class. Or, you can get one-on-one consulting with me.
Isn’t it time you reclaimed your true emotions and started living the life you dream about?
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(Image: Alpha Chen @ Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/48865430@N00/222615074/in/)
