Healing from childhood sexual abuse felt like a cavalcade of challenges, obstacles, rewards, insights, emotions, and the incomprehensible. Though every survivor can recognize this landscape, each of us has our own experience. For me, this journey of courage asks that I also share what I learned about healing from dissociated trauma memories.
~ It always brings us the experiences, people, and opportunities we need.
~ The rewards are part of the journey, not at the end.
~ Going back into the memory allows us to discover what we learned in that trauma. It empowers us to update old beliefs and feelings and this changes our lives.
~ Trauma memories are laid down through emotions and our five senses. Going back into them gives us a chance to put the experience into words and this is essential to healing.
~ In reconnecting to our personal spirit, we find paths to honor and celebrate ourselves. We connect to inner wisdom and perceptions rather than coping mechanisms
~ Healing is about discovering we have choices and learning how to take care of ourselves with those choices.
~ It shows us how to respond rather than ignore. It gives us tools to take action instead of reacting.
Healing requires courage, the same courage that got each of us through the trauma of sexual abuse. We still have that courage… much to our surprise. Recognizing our memories are not the enemy, we can embrace them as protective allies and clues to our well-being. There are many times we think we aren’t able, don’t deserve, can’t imagine, wouldn’t dare, or couldn’t possibly make the choice for our Self. I beg you to try and keep trying. You grow stronger with each choice.
