Getting the Gift from Your Pain
Understanding that painful emotional experiences are a result of belief systems that no longer serve us is one of the first steps in beginning to recreate one’s life.
Life provides many opportunities to, as Carl Jung would say, “make the subconscious conscious” – that is, to reveal to our conscious minds what we subconsciously believe. By staying open to opportunities, we can learn so much about what we subliminally believe. This is where real and lasting transformation happens – when the deeply held beliefs causing separation and fear are revealed, and we begin consciously and repetitively to choose a new belief.
Have you ever thought about what life would be like if you really approached everything as if form were effect and cause were really internal? I know, we teach it, we preach it, but it is not the easiest thing we have ever done! The fact is that when we are faced with unpleasant effects, our pain causes confusion, not clarity. Our own fears and frustrations frequently cloud the windows of the soul and get in the way of revealing higher truth. I have found that we try so hard to justify, ignore or deny our pain that we can miss the opportunity for healing – the very thing these unpleasant experiences are offering us.
Our deeply held beliefs are revealed in many ways throughout our lives. I would like to share a personal story that illustrates this idea.
My oldest daughter, Athena, 25, was to be married on a beautiful Sunday in May. On the evening before the wedding, Athena, my husband Mike, and Arielle, my 22-year-old daughter who lives out of town, were quietly discussing the next day before we prepared to go to sleep. All of a sudden, I realized that I had forgotten to pick up