Some emotional wounds heal, but others can resurface when we least expect it. Taking care of it is essential.
Last update: February 18, 2022
We all have to face situations that we owe particularly difficult. This makes us feel great anguish and, at times, a mixture of emotions that we don't know how to manage. Luckily, there are several pathways that help heal emotional wounds.
We invite you to join us on this journey to discover what emotional wounds are and the various paths we can take to heal them.
“Looking healthy on the outside starts from the inside”.
-Robert Urich-
What is an emotional wound?
An emotional wound is the trace left by an unpleasant experience. It usually causes us to feel deep pain, but it can also generate disconcerting emotions such as fear and anger.
Emotional wounds arise from situations that make us experience a feeling of inadequacy and that hurt us. We constantly relive these experiences, therefore it is essential to undertake paths of understanding and love and deal with the great frustration they can cause us.
There are several types of emotional wounds. To learn to recognize them, it is enough to remember the moments in which we felt victims of a great injustice, the episodes in which we felt abandoned, betrayed, guilty, humiliated, lost, broken, etc.
9 paths to heal emotional wounds
Emotional wounds can be healed, but the deepest ones often return to our lives when we least expect them. This is why it is important to heal them. We show nine ways to do this.
Self-knowledge
Those who know each other know who they are, what they want and where they want to go. This problem is fundamental, because in this way we are able to recognize what is really causing us so much damage and then work on it.
Furthermore, those who know each other know how they usually react to certain situations and can use it as a way to learn to be more assertive in the future.
On the other hand, when we know each other we are authentic. This happens because we start taking off the mask we wear to please others and to show ourselves how we really are.
Accepting emotional wounds as part of us
There are difficult moments in life and we have to accept them to be able to process them. Sometimes we don't, either because we believe we can handle everything and that it is unacceptable to feel sad, angry or guilty, or because we are unable to recognize the emotions that harbor within us.
Taking care of emotional wounds also means accepting them. To get to this point, we need to get close to our wounds, explore and observe them carefully. So, let's start allowing emotions to thrive.
Expressing emotional wounds means taking care of them
It should be emphasized that no emotion is negative (all are necessary!). Therefore, it is important to express them. For this, it is important to connect with each of them and let them surface.
So how do we express emotional wounds? By letting the emotions that invade us flow when we relive situations that are painful for us.
We can express emotional wounds through words, thoughts and gestures. Through words, that is, by writing or telling someone or talking about the situation aloud; evoke the situation through thought; or carry out activities that help us express what we are feeling, such as meditation.
Let them flow
Sometimes, we are unable to let negative emotions flow, because we want to control everything or because we stop living the "here and now" and think about the past or the future. This causes anxiety and depression to take over.
Therefore, it is important to let things flow on their own. It consists in not going against the current and rather letting things happen, without anticipating and without clinging to what happened, because we cannot control the future, but neither can change the past.
Managing emotions to heal emotional wounds
Emotional management is the key and emotional wound healing is the lock. When we are assertive with our emotions, we are well on our way to well-being.
Being assertive with our emotions means using and communicating what we feel in the best possible way. To do this, we must learn from our past experiences and who we are, so we can act healthier in the future.
Managing our emotions doesn't mean we can't feel bad, but finding the right time to express them. Furthermore, we should never blame ourselves if at any moment our emotions get out of our control. Do not forget that we are human beings and mistakes are necessary for learning.
Resilience
Resilience is the ability to overcome adversity. Some of us can rely on this ability and others not, but the good thing is that we can cultivate it. To do this, you need to:
- Gladly accept the changes.
- Making optimism our best ally.
- Have a sense of humor.
- Taking care of relationships with others.
- Engage in activities that make us grow and feel good.
Furthermore, we can find meaning in our lives. It is a wonderful legacy that Victos Frankl left us in the book In Search of Meaning. It is about finding meaning that generates satisfaction and encouragement. Of course, this meaning will differ depending on the person.
Resilience is a great ally, because it helps us to overcome painful circumstances. It doesn't mean it will make us forget about emotional wounds, but it will help us move forward despite the great pain they may cause us.
Finding the motivation
Sometimes it can be difficult to do things that motivate us. Here are some tips to help you get motivated:
- Playing sports. It is a way to heal emotional wounds because it causes the body to release endorphins, neurotransmitters that generate a feeling of well-being.
- Dedicate yourself to art. Making any kind of art or going to see it can be useful, because it is a way of transforming anguish into something pleasant. Either because we capture it, or because we identify with something or project it outwards.
- Practice meditation. Meditation is a gateway to consciousness, which makes us see what has happened to us from another perspective.
Now, any other activity that makes you feel good can be of great help. Sometimes, to heal emotional wounds, you just need to unplug and see what hurts us from another point of view. Each of us knows what is the best way to do it depending on the moment we are going through.
Ask for help in healing emotional wounds
Many times it is difficult to accept that we cannot keep everything under control, but it is clear that we are not omnipotent. Healing emotional wounds means recognizing that sometimes we need a hand.
Even when we take care of someone else's emotional wounds, it can happen that we don't know how to act.
Resorting to professional help is always a smart choice. It makes us feel better and thus improves our quality of life.
Psychologists are wonderful because they are experts in the behaviors, thoughts and emotions of human beings. So they can help us manage what hurts us and help us promote and maintain healthy habits.
Empathy, essential for healing emotional wounds
Let us remember that we are not unique. So while we can take care of our emotional wounds, we can also take care of others. To do this, we need to establish contact with them.
Empathy is about putting yourself in the other person's shoes. Only in this way can we fully understand what is happening to him, get in tune with him or her and look for the best alternatives that are in our hands to generate benefits.
Being empathetic means giving your best by taking into account what the other feels and needs. It means feeling compassion, assertiveness and having a certain awareness of one's abilities, to offer others the best we are capable of in terms of emotional support.
Healing emotional wounds is not easy, but it is possible. It is important to be constant in our daily life, in order to feel better. Being attentive to ourselves and to others improves the quality of our life.
Connecting with the most hidden and profound part of us, letting life flow, being assertive with your emotions, not being ashamed and asking for help when we deem it necessary are some of the tools we have at our disposal.
And again, using empathy as the main tool to interact with others, cultivate resilience, carry out motivating activities, willingly accept what has happened will help us spread our wings and take flight to take care of ourselves and of the others.
