“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~Rumi
In counseling clients for over twenty years, I have been honored to witness the transformative power of healing past hurts and trauma. The remarkable courage, strength and commitment my clients embody every time they embark on healing their wounds inspires and encourages me.
Reflecting on this process, I can’t help but acknowledge the irony that our empowerment is often inextricably tied to our suffering. It is the recognition that we can learn and grow as result of our challenging experiences that feeds our empowerment and moves us away from feeling victimized. In the process of moving from victim to survivor we must learn to love, trust and respect ourselves again.
Nurturing ourselves becomes essential in this process as we endeavor to reconnect with our true selves and deepen our self-awareness, self-compassion and self-acceptance.
I believe our commitment to our healing is a deeply self-nurturing act as it allows us to move toward wholeness and embrace our authentic truth and beauty.
Challenging situations will no doubt continue to occur throughout our lives, so actively cultivating strategies and practices that support our ability to cope and thrive is crucial for our health and happiness. For truly, it is not what happens to us, but how we respond that creates our experience.
Our empowerment lies in our choice and the meaning we give to our experience.
So here are five ways you can begin to engage in nurturing practices that will support your healing process and bring you more peace, joy and meaning.
1) Start by noticing how you speak to yourself and choose to flood your consciousness with positive thoughts and affirmations.
2) Create a mantra of self-compassion like I love and accept myself unconditionally and use it throughout the day.
3) Journal each day for 20 minutes to freely express your thoughts and feelings.
4) Acknowledge yourself daily for your courage, strength and commitment to healing.
5) Treat yourself with kindness and cultivate an attitude of curiosity and non-judgment toward yourself in the healing process.
If you can make kindness and self-compassion your best friends on this journey of healing, you will be nurturing yourself each step of the way! Start by including one of these nurturing practices into your day and notice how your self-compassion will grow. When you are ready you can include another healing practice and continue to cultivate the self-nurturing practices that most support you.
May you embrace the transformative power of self-nurturing on your healing journey and may you nurture peace in the world from the inside out!
Sending you so much peace, love and gratitude,
Kelley Grimes, M.S.W.
Counselor, Author & Speaker
Sign up to receive daily reminders with our mobile app!
Our words have huge power. I consciously use my words, I love to play with them in my daily journal and my conversation. I believe the words have vibrations, what create our life. Yesterday I have received a film: The Moses-code. “I am that I am.” This mantra is wonderful.
I totally agree that our words have power and vibration and that we should choose wisely. I am that I am is so powerful. I will check out the Moses-code that sounds fascinating. Thank you so much for your comment Theresia!
Beautiful. ????
Thank you so much Joanne!
Irony indeed that, as you so succinctly write, “…our empowerment is often inextricably tied to our suffering.” And so it is in our experience that we come to appreciate the dichotomy of life. I’m going to practice #4 more… I’m applauding myself right now for sticking to it!
Thanks for a great share!
I love that you articulated that it is our experience that we come to appreciate the whole and that you are going to celebrate your strength, courage and commitment to sticking to it! Thank you so much for your comment Sheila!
I use the affirmation, “I’m so proud of you,” every day.
Barb I also recognize how proud I am of myself especially if I have been struggling with something and I persevere and come out on the other side with more belief in myself. Thank you so much for sharing your powerful affirmation!
Great post Kelley, and loved the pic! Wonderful tips! I love this: “Nurturing ourselves becomes essential in this process as we endeavor to reconnect with our true selves and deepen our self-awareness, self-compassion and self-acceptance”. SO true! Thanks for sharing your wisdom! xo
Thank you so much Patricia! The picture is from a recent walk at the beach at sunset my favorite time to watch the sky. I love how the light reflects the possibility of healing and the reconnection with our authentic selves. I am so grateful for your very kind comment!