- Is there an aching in your heart that you are ignoring?
- Does it feel as the joy and inspiration you once felt are slowly running out?
- Are you feeling a sense of disconnect within?
The first 38 years of my life, I rarely paid any attention to my inner world – my feelings, my emotions. When I went through challenges/conflicts, I would feel upset, angry, hurt etc. However, the next day I would just go on normally, ignoring any emotional pain. Frankly I didn’t know if I ignored it. It was more like I had no clue I was supposed to do anything with those feelings. So I put them away and kept moving with my life. In 2007 the inner conflicts/aches escalated to a peak. I felt like my heart was dry of all joy and inspiration. Life felt robotic. Yet, I kept on as usual getting on with my life. Every now and then things would escalate and blow up at home like a volcano, impacting everyone around negatively. And the cycle of pain kept getting worse!
On the surface everything looked normal. In fact, to others my life may have looked “perfect” back then! Yet there was something big eating me up inside.
Can you relate?
Maybe right now you are going through something similar. It could be that your pain is related to your work frustrations. Maybe you feel stuck at your job. Its been a long while you have been wanting to make some changes and that’s not happening. You feel like you are stagnating. Yet you keep going back day after day to the same job. There is a sense of helplessness. A feeling that life is drifting meaninglessly, but you cant find a way out of there. Or maybe you feel stuck in a relationship in which you have been unhappy for as long as you can remember. And over time things have not gotten any better. You want to do something about it yet your fears keep you stuck. Still, you manage to keep on living this way, hiding the pain from others yet suffering deeply as you move from one day to another.
If you are ignoring a deep inner ache, no matter what it is, here is what you need to know…
- Your Pain (Emotional or Physical) Is Your Guide To You
It’s letting you know that something is off balance. Something needs YOUR ATTENTION. It’s letting you know that this is something important and you need to take care of it. It’s a warning signal…alerting you. - Pain in your heart or your body, doesn’t fade away overtime.
If you feel like you can ignore this pain and somehow things will get better, you are mistaken. Pain that’s buried within, gets stored in your cells, overtime it overloads your system, lowers your immunity and creates bigger states of DIS-EASES.That’s what happened to me. In 2007 I was diagnosed with a DIS-EASE (Chostochondritis) and was in chronic PHYSICAL pain and confined to bed rest indefinitely. I reached a dead end. I couldn’t keep going on with my life. It came to a standstill. I was left with NO CHOICE BUT TO ATTEND TO THE PAIN. It was as if the Universe finally took action on my behalf and said, OK since you are not paying attention to the inner signals, let’s make the pain loud enough for you to pay attention!
Maybe your aching hasn’t reached that peak point yet. But instead of waiting for things to escalate further, and going on ignoring that deep inner ache, here are some things you can do:
- Be gentle and compassionate with yourself – when someone you love is hurting, you are most likely to be kind and gentle with them. You don’t ignore them, abandon them or judge or dismiss their pain. You genuinely try to understand what’s going on. Be gentle with yourself too. Take out time for yourself to tend to yourself.
- Allow yourself to feel the pain – instead of pretending those feelings aren’t there, allow yourself to acknowledge your true feelings to yourself. Acknowledge to yourself things that are hurting at the moment. Say to yourself- this is where I am right now, and this is how I feel. And its alright to feel this way. I’m going to honor how I am feeling. My feelings aren’t right or wrong. They just are. And its alright. And though I don’t have answers and I don’t have clarity about this situation, I know I wont be here forever. Change is natural. Things will change for me too.
- Cry your heart out! Crying is a great way to let out the pain we have been holding on to inside of us. I find that it’s the easiest LET GO process. Crying is healing and therapeutic. It’s a release of all the stuck energy or emotions residing within. It is these very STUCK EMOTIONS that over time create PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL DIS-EASES. As you release the tears, you will feel a heavy weight lifting from your heart, mind, body. This will create space for more peace and clarity within.
- Journal Your Thoughts & Feelings – you can also create a private journal to express yourself freely. Writing is a great way to bare yourself and express all the pent up feelings. Writing about things that are weighing you down, troubling you can help you offload your burden too. Also writing it all out may bring some clarity or inspiration to take action too.
Pain is an inevitable part of living life. There is a purpose to your pain and you need to pay attention to its deeper message. Your efforts to try to push past pain, or bury it are simply band-aids. Unless you acknowledge its existence and deal with it, that inner aching won’t truly heal. Remember the first step to all healing and transformation begins with awareness and acknowledging your true feelings.
Are you ready to acknowledge that inner aching in your heart? Are you ready to move past your pain? Don’t wait till it is too late!
Image Copyright: yuriz / 123RF Stock Photo
