Healing

“Making sense of painful experiences is sacred work. It asks us to respect our own time, space, and language. These are the unique fingerprints of our own healing.“ ~ Rebecca Ray

We all have difficult times in our lives. That is a given. I have learned a lot during the last 6 months about living with difficult times, about my reactions to the reactions of others, about what is helpful and what is not. Sometimes I feel like a sounding board where others can vent their feelings on what is going on in MY life. And that isn’t helpful! If they feel that things aren’t going as they should, I don’t need to hear that. I already know it. While I appreciate their concern, talking about something else is a nice break. I know they are concerned but I feel that they should trust me enough to let them know if there is something they should be aware of. I was feeling guilty because I had these reactions, knowing people were just expressing their concern. I felt ungrateful. Frankly I was annoyed both at them and at myself!

Then I came across this quote by Rebecca Ray which resonated with me. I had never found that my thoughts were those of the mainstream. Why now? While I do try to appreciate all the concerns being expressed, I am thankful for those that fit into the way I understand these experiences, the way I cope, the way of healing.

The other part of the quote that strikes me is that making sense of painful experience is a sacred work. It made me question just what that is. What is the difference between a sacred and a non-sacred work? If a sacred work is one in which ‘God’ has a part, then what it is, of course, depends on one’s current understanding of who it or what ‘God’ is. If you see ‘God’ as being set apart from everyday life, that means making sense of painful experience belongs in a special place, outside of the ordinary. If, however, you see ‘God’ as being very much a part of everyday life, then making sense of those painful experiences is also very much part of the ebb and flow of living. It becomes something that is meant to be part of living in the moment, not something to be put aside until the right moment arrives to deal with it.

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This, too ...

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NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

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