“Time is the healer of all necessary evils” – Menander (~ 300 B.C.)
Healing is one of the greatest journeys we set out in life. We start with a wound and pain and, ideally, end with comfort and satisfaction for where the journey of healing took us. But, how do we define healing and what does it mean to you?
For physical wounds, the journey of healing is often specific and stated. You cut your finger chopping vegetables before making dinner. You apply a bandage as the wound turns to a scar while white blood cells attack the wound and prevent infection. Eventually, you’re left with fortified skin with maybe a small reminder of the cut that once was.
As you likely know, however, mental and emotional wounds don’t have the same pattern of healing. Our bodies aren’t always equipped to heal these wounds on autopilot the way our body tackles physical wounds. We have to work. We have to take action.
Healing Mental and Emotional Wounds Takes Action
At the beginning of this article, I quoted what’s believed to be the first iteration of the commonly-known phrase “time heals all wounds.” This is true one way or the other – you either heal, get so far removed from the instance that created the wound that it no longer matters or, more morbidly, you pass and the wound no longer matters. Eventually, time heals.
Remember, though, it was the action that cured the ozone layer. Just like with physical and environmental wounds, we are able to take action on our mental and emotional wounds to speed the healing process. Action is a variety of efforts aimed at getting to the root cause of your pain and ensuring a bandage over the symptoms doesn’t neglect the growth of the disease.
Your Role in Healing
Ignoring the emotional burden on your shoulders doesn’t always work. You can’t always escape from your role in the healing process by just hoping it goes away.
That’s why we apply techniques like yoga, breath work, talk therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR, and numerous other proven strategies to nurture a healing environment. These actions are the antibacterial ointment that ensures not only that your wound does not fester and infect but also has the space to heal.
What Does Healing Mean to You?
Healing is often abstract. Like the image in this article, there are a number of ways you are able to interpret it. Is healing from a divorce moving on and finding a new love? Is healing from divorce learning to be okay with being alone? Some of you said yes to the first or second options – and some of you said yes to both.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder just the same as healing is in the heart of the wounded. The action you take and the output you give to the world often reflect back onto you and allow kindness back into your world.
At Integrated Therapies, the focus will always be on healing the individual and not their circumstances. Healing is not a one-size-fits-all approach, so it’s important to apply individualized counseling, coaching, and therapeutic strategies and try a number of different techniques to find what works. Contact Integrated Therapies and learn what healing journey is best for you.