Cleansing Past Wounds

Did you know that just about every phobia, fear, and imbalanced perception of the world--or our place in it can be traced back to some point in our childhood?  Thinking about this makes one become acutely aware of innate flaws in thinking, negative self-talk patterns and even destructive patterns often apparent in our adult lives.  If you ever wonder, or get that question stuck in your head--why am I this way?  You can pretty much say it is something that took root in you during your childhood.

Now, please believe that as adults we certainly do have a responsibility to figure out how to correct the wrong thinking and wrong action and destructive patterns in our lives.  It’s not as simple as blaming it on some vague entity we title childhood, or putting a scarlet letter on our parents for poor parenting skills--or even pointing our bony fingers at the vacant spaces in our lives where our parents should have been, but were not.  As adults, we can acknowledge and certainly respectfully become aware within ourselves of where the problem took root in us--but as adults, please believe it is OUR responsibility to right those wrongs today, and uproot the problems--and let’s say, plant a better garden within our minds and bodies.  A cultivated place where good things can grow. 

We weren't responsible for the things that happened to us as children, but as adults we ARE responsible for the way we deal with them.  We have two choices, we either choose to learn and grow from the experiences-or we choose to forfeit our personal power and allow the trauma of the past to destroy our lives, moment by moment and thought by thought.  The choice is ours and the blame game isn't an option for healing.  Reconciliation with those parts of your past that were hurtful is the hope for better experiences in the future. 

One thing that sometimes helps in releasing trauma which was physical from our childhoods is to reflect on the fact that (1) we are not our bodies; what happens to our bodies we are witnesses to, but not victims of (2) there are no remnants of our childhood physical bodies that haven't been replaced with new cells, which have created a new body in which we dwell in today.  We have the choice whether or not to welcome and give a home to those old injuries and our first step in creating peace within ourselves is to understand that no matter where we are in this moment, God's grace is sufficient and He will lend to us the power we need to let go of every past hurt.  He will cleanse us so that we can begin again, and do so without baggage.