Inner Healing 101: Healing Emotional Wounds
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Be honest with yourself!
If you had a headache, would you go to the doctor and tell him, “There’s something wrong with me, but I don’t want to think about it long enough to figure out what it is! I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I don’t know if it’s a headache, a stomachache, a runny nose, or an ingrown toenail!” You would never do that when seeking physical healing, would you? Then why do we so often do this very thing when we are seeking inner healing? We know that there’s a problem, a wound, but we don’t want to even peek into our pasts to figure out what is really wrong! If you’re going to receive healing for an emotional wound, you need to first be honest with yourself and what has happened. Let’s get started by answering some basic questions:
Who is it that you hate or blame? Be honest with yourself; there’s somebody in your past that you, or an alter within you, is holding something against. Be specific, and go back as far as you can. If you can figure out when this wound began, and who is responsible, it is the first step to receiving healing for the wound.
What did they do to you? Make a list of everything that was done to you, which you still hold against them in your heart. What might be a list of things which you still hold onto in your heart? What things can’t you seem to easily forget? I’m not referring to a list of people whom you haven’t forgiven, but rather a list of people/events where you just cannot seem to release it from your heart.
Don’t try to cover up their mistake and say that it was alright. If they did you wrong, then there’s no getting around that. Being honest about what was done to you is very important.
What things have you done, that you deeply regret? Make a list of things that you still, to this day, regret doing. If you have any feelings of self-hate, self-unforgiveness, etc., then you need to be honest and figure out why you hate yourself.
Is there anything in your past that you feel excessively embarrassed or ashamed of? This is a common cause for self-hate. If there are things which you still haven’t forgiven yourself of, then now is a good time to make a list of those things, so that you can effectively forgive and release the hate held secretly within your heart against yourself.
It is vital that we get right down to the roots, and lay out the specific reasons why there are wounds that have not yet healed. Spiritual infections, like natural infections, will fester and grow worse when in the dark; it is important to bring the issues to the light, so they can no longer fester, but receive the healing light of Christ into those areas of the mind and emotions. If you cannot be honest with yourself, and bring these things out into the light, then you’re only hindering the healing power of the Holy Spirit from ministering to those wounds and bringing about healing in your mind and emotions.