Helping to Heal, and Being Healed
Once upon a time a young boy experienced betrayal, loss, and struggle at the hands of those he loved the most. The boy left home, went to school, grew into a man, and built armor to protect himself from harm. He collected weapons and set out on a quest to fight evil and protect others from harm. In his battles, the man met others who had also suffered pain, loss, and trauma from events created by those they trusted.
The man helped these people by holding them responsible accountable. The unexpected part of this story was how much these other people helped the man.
Like him, each of these people had built armor out of the anger, fear, and sadness they felt as a result of the events. Also universal was a shame or guilt these people felt from not being able to do more to prevent the events from occurring.
These people taught the man that the deeds of others don’t create our armor. We forge the armor we wear from our own reaction to the deeds of others. We think this armor protects us. We think this armor is a burden we must carry. It’s not. In reality, the armor simply weighs us down and makes our journey more difficult.
Since we create the armor and we wear it, we can also take it off. Learning what happened and why it happened allows us to move past the anger, fear, and sadness we built toward the people who betrayed us. More importantly, it gives us the strength to forgive ourselves for our own reaction to the events of others. These are some of the lessons I bring to help heal people in my practice every day.
The man went into his quest to heal other people and it was these other people who healed him. If you haven’t figured it out yet, the man on this quest was me. And so to all those people who helped heal me, I say thank you.
I was able to put down the weight I carried for so many years. I was transformed from a warrior against evil into an advocate for good. My quest turned from slaying dragons to helping the people I met. Ironically, this transformation led to more success and a happier life. I continue my quest to help those that have been hurt and to make things better for them and all of us in the process.