MENTAL HEALTH

The Justified Pain of Healing

As long as you keep blaming, you continue to place the responsibility for your pain and dissatisfaction elsewhere.

Life ‘n Light — image created by author on NightCafe

I’m into my seventh bullet journal, but still have some catching up to do for all of my other journals. Quotes I left a space for, photos I need to print, and in the back of my very first journal, several pages to where I can transfer the notes I’d made during my coaching sessions.

I don’t want to be the victim. I don’t want to feel the pain.

Last week, I decided it was time — time to page through every journal, and fill in those blank spaces. No more procrastinating.

As I checked the notes made, I converted them into full sentences, and jotted them down at the end of the first book, where several pages remained open for this purpose.

That was when I came across the four steps of forgiveness the coach had shared with me:

1. In the accusation phase, I have permission to show my emotions — anger, sadness, pain, anything.
2. The mental layer comes after the primary work — giving up on and letting go of expectations linked to emotions.
   I’d hoped that…
   I’d wished that…