Robin Vinge

Naturopathic Medicine

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The Emotional Side of Healing

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We are privy to a wide range of emotions on any given day. It is not realistic to only feel emotions such as joy, happiness, and optimism because emotions exist on a spectrum. At one end of the spectrum exist the more uplifting or lighter emotions that we love feeling and on the other end of the spectrum lie the heavy or darker emotions you might rather want to sweep under a rug. We can’t avoid the darker emotions any more than we can stay on the happy train all the time. Don’t get attached to the cycle you are currently in. Know that this too shall pass and in the meantime, the key is to feel these emotions, no matter what they are, but with the intention of releasing them and moving forward. The thoughts that you think, accompanying the release of the emotions, are equally important. If I am feeling sorry for myself and cry while thinking the thought, ‘this person caused me to feel poorly about myself; they hurt me and that is not fair’, feeling the emotion in this situation is not going to make me feel better, more empowered or hopeful that I will have a better feeling state soon. Coming from the standpoint that you are a victim holds you in a lower vibrational state that does not make you feel good. Conversely, if I express sadness and the thought is, ‘I am unhappy that I have chosen to have a perspective that limits me and causes me to feel sorrow. I want to view things from a different perspective next time so I don’t feel like a victim in my life.’ This is a much more empowered state for you to come from and you will feel better from releasing those negative emotions in the moment. Anytime you feel negative emotion it is safe to feel it; you want to feel it and release it in that moment versus holding on to it and storing it in your body. That way it will not do damage to you. Negative emotions held chronically in the body can promote a more inflammatory state in your body. So, what do you do if you are feeling negative emotions chronically? There are a few things you can do. Firstly, ask yourself if you can view the situation from a different perspective. One thing I always ask myself is, ‘what is this situation in my life trying to teach me?’ ‘How is it benefiting me?’ If you see that there is a positive benefit to you then you will feel better about the situation. When you can see that there is always two sides to any situation then that can offer you a new and different perspective. You see that things are not so black and white and choose to view things from a different perspective. This will shift your energy so you feel better.  I also ask myself, ‘how am I like the person that is currently pushing my buttons?’ Generally, you will not react to something unless you disown it in yourself. John Demartini wrote the Breakthrough Experience which elaborates more on this process.

Healing at the emotional level takes courage because often when you have some insight with regards to situations or interpersonal relationships that you find challenging in your life, you may see that you might need to change some things about the way you behave as well. Healing requires you to look at your stuff that may be clouding your vision and preventing you from viewing things from a different perspective. It is never easy to look at yourself with  unglaring honesty. But that is what healing requires. Look at yourself in the light. Take responsibility for yourself, your emotions, your shadow but look with a compassionate and somewhat detached eye. View your life from a spiritual perspective; a higher vantage point. Healing is challenging work but if you look at yourself with love and self acceptance, the path gets easier as you move along… We are all imperfect, trying to live a human life with the ultimate goal of becoming more whole. Healing at the emotional level will help you do that more consistently. It will help you move up the vibrational scale to more positive states of emotion. More on the emotional side of healing  next time…

The Emotional Side of Healing

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The emotional side of personal healing is one near and dear to my heart.Growing up sensitive and expressing my sensitivity in a self destructive way as a teenager (anorexia) was not the optimal way for me to cope with my emotional side. I have come a long ways since then but I still am extremely sensitive so therefore need tools to help me navigate the challenging spaces of my own personal reality. One of my light bulb moments was when I read about the need to be emotionally independent. Looking back on my life path, I realized that much of my challenges that arose were largely self inflicted because I was emotionally dependent. I was emotionally dependent on other people to make me feel like I was okay. I made them (being the outside world) responsible for my well being. If they treated me well, I would be happy and in harmony. If they treated me less than well, I would immediately blame myself and wonder what I had done to affect their emotional state. As long as my external environment was harmonious I was fine. How realistic is it for your external environment to always be harmonious? Not very! I needed to make my internal environment harmonious to me and stop needing my external environment to make things okay inside myself. This is emotional independence. This is knowing that you alone are responsible for your own well being. No one else can give this to you. This allows you the freedom to let go of needing to make everybody else around you happy; because guess what, you can’t do that! You are not responsible for their well being. They are responsible for that. When I learned this, my whole spirit became lighter. I didn’t have to carry the burdens of everyone else who was less than happy and make me responsible for their well being. This is liberation! So when you are feeling emotionally troubled about something in your life, ask yourself if your emotional state is arising because of something that someone did in your external world. Are they making you unhappy? Did a light bulb go on? When people challenge you, emotionally speaking, it is your perfect opportunity to claim emotional independence; make yourself responsible for how good you feel in each moment. Learning how to be emotionally independent would have saved me years of psychotherapy when I was younger! So, claim your own emotional independence from now on. I challenge you to do this in your own life! You will become a much happier individual moving forward. More on emotional healing next time…

The Mental Side of Personal Healing

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I wanted to comment more on the mental side of healing. You are only as strong as your beliefs. You need to have belief systems which will maximize your ability to heal on the mental realm. What do you believe about your ability to heal? You must be unwavering in your belief  to heal from anything. People will try to convince you of your reality…’the statistics say this about your disease’.  Stay firmly convinced of your ability to heal from anything. Healing does not always mean curing but if you are focused on your own personal healing a greater capacity for peace, happiness, self acceptance and love will naturally abound; and this in turn can greatly improve your health. Examples of belief systems that are supportive of healing: I am healing every day. People defy statistics. My mind is a great ally in my ability to heal. These are belief systems that support your healing.  Limiting belief systems would be: The prognosis is not good. I will never get better. My mind is my own worst enemy.

Focus on what you want. Choose belief systems that are supportive of your healing. You might consider writing down positive affirmations supporting your ability to heal. I am strong and stable. I have consistent energy. My primary senses are functioning at their optimum capacity. No matter what you are experiencing in this moment, write down what you are wanting to experience in this moment. Write a positive statement as to what you are wanting to achieve. You might want to write these affirmations in big bold letters and post them on a wall in your house. The more you see these positive statements affirming what you want, the more they will imprint on your subconcious mind and that in turn will help in your healing.

Mind/Body medicine can help you strengthen the capacity of your mental healing. If you enlist the mind to help you heal, it can in turn affect your body. I mentioned meditation as an incredibly important tool to enhance self awareness and centredness, other tools to help you include guided imagery. Guided imagery uses the senses to enhance your visualizations. Using your senses to enhance a visualization will facilitate deeper healing and facilitate self transformation. A simple imagery exercise to reduce stress involves picking a happy memory from your life history that you love and then remembering it in vivid detail to create the feelings that memory brought up for you at that time. For example, I did mind/body training in California four years ago in the month of February. The conference was at a beautiful hotel in Northern California (Berkeley). We would meet during the day to attend the conference and then at night we would have free time. One night in particular it was lightly raining and I decided that I would go swimming. It was a warm rain so I decided I would swim in the outdoor pool. It was about 8 pm so the pool  area was a bit dark apart from the lights around the pool that illuminated the circumference.There was noone swimming that night but me. I started swimming laps and I remember how peaceful that night was and how absolutely content I felt to be swimming solo. I conjure up this memory whenever I want to feel those same feelings in this present moment. I recall the feel of the water on my skin, I recall the feeling of the rain falling on my body as I swam laps; I recall the steam rising from the pool drifting into the night. It was such a magical night. I remembered how the air felt and the taste of salt on my lips as I swam. I recall the sounds that night; because of the proximity of the airport, there were airplanes passing overheard. I remember seeing the lights of the airplanes out of the corner of my eye when I would lift my head to breathe.  When I was finished my laps, I got out of the pool and went indoors to the clubhouse where I had a restorative sauna and steam. I was thoroughly relaxed and happy that night. I bring this memory back to life from time to time when I want to feel happy, peaceful and content. I can cause the same healing chemicals in my body just by remembering that night in vivid detail. The recollection of that memory then has a healing effect on my body. You can do this too; bring up a memory from your past that gives you well being. Try to remember it in vivid detail; bring it more alive by enlisting your senses. Try to remember how it felt (touch), the aromas (smell), the sights (vision), the sounds (hearing) and the tastes  if possible. This will enrich the visualization and this maximizes the process of guided imagery. Until next time, visualize yourself in perfect health…