When the Past Matters
The CSO View
As we start a new season, it's likely we've all spent time in the last month making new memories and reliving old ones. Some of those memories are amazing and we cherish them way down in our hearts. For instance, the smell of baking bread can be a wonderful scent reminding us of traditions and beliefs celebrated in times passed. But, there are other scents, scenes, and words that remind us of things that wound, hurt, and continue to shape our relationships and behaviors.
Most of the time we don't speak of these latter memories, most of the time we aren't even consciously aware of them; along with the lies of shame, self-hatred, and rejection (to name a few) that are attached to them. But others around us are aware of them because these memories left unattended or more importantly these lies left attached allow trauma to take root and retraumatize us over and over. Every time we smell that familiar scent or are in a similar situation, we default to the lie we believe about ourselves and the event and our emotions surface or stay buried, but our actions don't. And that's what others see and experience . . . our actions, what we do because of what we believe to be true.
As a CSO, when first working with a client and then as needed, I spend time walking through some of those wounding events (small and big) and once recognized, we break off the trauma associated with them. Isn't this the work of a clinically trained therapist you might ask? No, it is the work of a spiritual guide or advisor. But, if the work needed is associated with the emotions to go deeper, then I recommend a therapist. This is especially needed in developing new behaviors around the truths that replace lies.
If you are wondering why you keep going around the same mountain or the same things keep happening to you year after year, reach out to us. Let's see if we can work together to move your life forward.
CSO ViewCSOChief Spiritual OfficerBarbara HoganTimbeloSpiritual HealingInner HealingSpiritual GuideSpiritual Advisortrauma
