Written By Don Shetterly
Many years ago, my former therapist shared something with me before the last session I had with her since I was moving. She told me that many people just don't go far enough in therapy. They stop after a few sessions and feel that is enough when in reality they need to go further.
I have seen this time and time again with myself and others, not only people I know but clients I have had. It is just too darn easy to quit before you get to the point that you're healing those deep layers.
I know, it isn't easy healing. I know, it isn't easy going through pains of life and uncovering them. It is like a festered cut on your finger as you play in the salt mines. There is just no way that is going to feel good. It reminds me of a story from my own experiences.
For awhile, I was working at a fertilizer plant. It was easy to cut your finger, but because of the salt content, it was much harder to get your finger to heal. The salt just kept the wound open, and it would burn when the salt touched the exposed area of the cut on my finger. It wasn't until I was able to protect the cut or remove myself from this situation that it could finally heal.
Healing can be the same way. Sometimes it just hits us and feels like the festered wound of a cut soaking in salt. The thing is, if we continue to stay in that environment where we hunker down in the salt mines, we'll just keep causing more pain in life.
The layers of healing run deep. They took a long time to build up and they are not going to disappear overnight or over a few therapy sessions. We may trick ourselves into believing they will, but we will only be lying to ourselves.
When we experience things in life that are anything but good, we tend to bury them deep within our body and cells. Every year that goes by, we pour another layer of cement on them. After a time, the cement hardens and gets so thick that it becomes difficult at best, to get to them.
Yes, we can use a jackhammer and chip the layers of cement away, but the more years we have buried it, the deeper we must go. Sometimes we get tired. Sometimes ask ourselves, what is the use in continuing through healing? Sometimes we think, this is more than I want to do and so we sit down to take a rest. Just make sure, you don't sit there for a rest for the rest of your life.
Yes, healing is not easy. There is a positive outcome as we get rid of the layers of past experiences we have endured. Sometimes to heal, time is required. It takes courage and determination.
Often it takes us saying that no matter what, we are not going to give up. We're not going to let anything stop us. Sometimes when we are at the point of saying "this is too much," it is then that we may just likely be on the edge of a major breakthrough. We won't know unless we keep going.
I've had those moments where I said, "this is too much" and I wanted to stop. In fact, there were times that I did stop. Life had a way of getting my attention and getting back to the point of seeking help that I needed. If I had listened to the parts of me that wanted to give up, I would have missed the breakthroughs in my healing.
Life is a journey. Life is about going in and reclaiming parts where life hurt us. Yes, healing is too much sometimes, but the alternative is to live a life of pain and heartbreak.
The alternative is to stay stuck in that which we so desperately want to let go. Healing is about digging through the layers and finding who we are, not what we experienced and done to us.
Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly
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