I have come to an end of a chapter…so this will be my final post…for now.
November 1, two years ago was the day I got up close and personal to my inner wounds. Catalyzed by a break up.
It turned out, I was being given medicine from the Universe. It tasted like poison, but it was MY medicine, the medicine that would heal wounds I didn’t even know I had.
He was a Medicine Man of sorts. Giving me a dose of homeopathic medicine: drawing out the poison with the same poison.
I realized through an honest and raw probing of my feelings and reactions after the break up that these feelings were really hidden fragments of ME, and have very little to do with him.
A painful, emotional rollercoaster ride that had me feeling lost, confused, sad, angry, resentful, self-pitying, worthless, doubtful, insecure…and did I mention, confused.
I didn’t get it. What was going on? An 8 month relationship…that I chose (although didn’t want to) end, and this is what I am left with: a mess of dark, crazy feelings to sift through?!
And I kept the story alive; I couldn’t let go. I was trying to find an answer, trying to find a reason, trying to make it make sense…whatever that would have been. I was just trying to quiet the noise, soothe the pain and feel okay again. I want to end my suffering. I wanted a way out of my painful feelings.
“A whole person is one who has both walked with God and wrestled with the Devil.” ~ Carl Jung
It’s funny how we hold on to things, replay them in our head over and over, trying to figure it out, wishing we would have said this, done that, analyzing it to death, believing we can find some sort of answer or something that will make us feel better. Whatever that really could possibly be, who knows, but we try in vain to find it… yet we never do because it doesn’t exist.
We hold on to the anger, pain, resentment thinking that this will in some way correct something, make us right, punish them, change things. We don’t let go until we find something that will give us some peace, make us feel better again, make us feel like we are okay.
It’s crazy and it’s distorted thinking, but it’s what we do.
But the craziest thing about it is that it is this very need to have it be different, that keeps us stuck in the place we are trying to get out of. It is what is causing the suffering…the clinging to how we think things should be.
The pain isn’t the pain; the hiding, running away from, the ignoring of, and the hating of it is the pain.
“The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering.” ~ Ram Das
It is funny how we always want things to be different when they are challenging or cause us uncomfortable feelings that we don’t want to deal with. We, then, choose our default coping mechanism, which actually just keep us in the abyss of our suffering or a million miles away from our true selves, rather than taking a closer look at ourselves.
“What lies before us and what lies behind us is but a small matter compared to what lies within us.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I learned that nothing needs to be different; that is NOT what will end my painful emotions. I needed to change to make me feel better, not him.
And by change, I don’t mean I needed to change my thoughts and perceptions I had about him and the choices he made (I did ENOUGH self-doubting), rather I needed to change my thoughts and perceptions about myself…the ones that created the ego wounds, the self sabotaging beliefs and patterns. The very ones that lead me to have this relationship with this person.
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” ~Victor Frankl
Our wounds are wise; perhaps the wisest part of us.
We don’t come by our wounds by accident. They are meant to be ours. They are part of a larger purpose.
Our wounds carry within them the answers we look out there for.
Our wounds embrace our true gifts.
So as I close this chapter of my life, I will carry forth a very precious gift: the chance to get intimate with me/my deep, dark hidden wounds. Giving me the opportunity to understand them, accept them, love them, and heal them. Transform them. So that they can serve the beautiful purpose they were meant to in this life.
“Go on a journey from self to SELF, my friend…such a journey transforms the earth into a mine of Gold.” ~ Rumi
