Emotional pain and trauma can make it almost
impossible to enjoy life and can manifest as physical pain.
Rejection activates the same pathways in your brain as
physical pain. Feelings of rejection disrupts the need we all have to belong
and to be accepted. Rejection can interfere with your ability to think, make
decisions, and to recall memories. Letting go of rejection can be good for your
mental health, but holding onto and internalizing the rejection can cause
mental health issues as well as physical diseases.
When
your nervous system is overloaded with too much stress and trauma, you shut down. You may feel numb, detached,
and disconnected as a result. You may feel like you are existing but not truly
living.
→Emotional pain
actually takes a greater toll on your
quality of life than physical pain.
The stress and negative emotions linked to a traumatic
event can cause physical pain and diseases including chronic inflammation,
headaches, high blood pressure, lowered immune system, and altered brain
chemicals.
Emotional trauma and pain can interfere with your
ability to enjoy life and in severe cases one may have trouble with deciding if
life is worth living.
Practical
tips to begin healing from trauma associated with
emotional pain:
1. Avoid ruminating about the hurt and
the traumatic memories. When you think about what someone
has done to hurt you over and over again, it can be distressing, cause
depressive emotions and intense anger. There must be closure with whomever
caused you to feel betrayed or rejected. You may never get the opportunity to
speak with the person who has hurt you, and they may never truly apologize to
you. You can write a letter to them and not mail the letter, but instead bury
or burn the letter. You can place an empty chair in front of you and “pretend”
you are telling the person who has hurt you how it made you feel. You can also
place an empty chair in front of you and talk to God about the person or people
who have wounded you. Trauma should not
be repressed but in a healthy manner dealt with by dealing with the pain associated
with the trauma. If trauma is not dealt with properly these memories will
be played over and over again in your mind that can result in Post-Traumatic
Stress. Whatever you decided, make sure you forgive that person, offer them
undeserved mercy, and pray a blessing over them (you may have to do this daily
until you feel recovered from your heart wounds).
2. Let go of the rejection you may have
internalized as someone you love walking out of your life, abandoning you or
betraying your trust. Internalizing the rejection implies you
believe deep down inside that you did something to deserve their rejection and
that you are not valuable or worthy enough to receive their love. Dispel and
reject all the “seeds” that have taken root to cause you to believe that you
are not worthy, not important, not special, or that you are a failure. ALL
LIES. No matter what you have or have
not done in a particular relationship that does not mean that you are not
worthy to be honored, valued or treated with dignity. You are worthy and
more importantly God does not reject you! Pull out all the “roots” or the lies
that you have believed because someone rejected or betrayed you, and replace
all lies with truth in God’s Word.
3. Begin to accept the situation that caused you the emotional
trauma. There is a common saying,” It is what it is.” Acceptance brings healing. Reliving the past, trying to figure out
why something happened, or replaying the trauma in your mind brings more pain
and increases your chances of being further traumatized. Let go of what you do
not understand. In no way, do I imply to let someone “off the hook” for a hurt
or wound that that caused your trauma, but accepting that the trauma did
happen, and releasing your pain is for your benefit; nit theirs. For your
healing, you can say, “I don’t like what they did or I don’t like this
circumstance in my life, but I will choose to accept that is what happened and
find a way to heal in a healthy manner from it.” If you choose to be angry,
bitter or unforgiving you will harm yourself. It is okay to deal with the anger
that you may have towards a situation or person but don’t replay or ruminate
over the hurt again and again.
4. Begin exercising.
Exercising builds essential brain chemical neurotransmitters like serotonin and
dopamine for mood regulation, and decreasing anxiety. Try and exercise every
day.
5. Connect with safe people.
You don’t have to talk to others about
your trauma, in fact for some talking to others can make their trauma worse.
You can have just one or two people that you share the trauma you have been
through. Attend normal activities that feel safe to you such as church, a bible
study, or a lunch date with a trusted friend. (if you are not able to cope with
daily living, are severely depressed or anxious or unable to connect with
anyone you may benefit from professional help).
6. Healing through the Word of God.
·
In your name Jesus I speak healing and
restoration upon each and every wound that was inflicted upon my life. Thank
you for healing and binding up my wounds. (Psalm 147:3).
·
Holy Spirit, expose the lies of the enemy
that have entered my life because of my trauma. Jesus, bring me to an encounter
with your Word. Reveal Your truth to me and let every lie be broken and let
every mindset come into alignment with Your Word. God, wash me in Your Word.
(Romans 12:2).
·
I declare that I will stand in agreement
with Your Word that says only goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
of my life. (Psalm 23, Jeremiah 29:11).
·
Cast out fear from my heart (1 John
4:18a). Let your love rain down upon me, bringing healing to my mind, emotions,
will and spirit, and even my body. Overwhelm me with Your healing power and
overwhelm me with Your loving presence.
·
I declare freedom from every burden of
fear, anxiety, depression, guilt, shame and anger by the power of the blood of
Jesus Christ. And I speak love, peace, freedom, wholeness, joy and thanksgiving
over myself.
There is something known as continuous traumatic
stress, this occurs when trauma is repeated such as women and children who are
sold into sex slavery or those that experience long-term stress.
Some
symptoms may be:
Difficulty regulating emotions, sense of helplessness
and powerlessness, feeling like you are someone you love is always in danger,
and not able to trust others. The anticipatory anxiety that comes from worrying
if a threatening situation will occur, whether the fear is realistic or not can
transform how you respond to threats. If there is a remote possibility the trauma can occur again, you may begin to
live an automatic “flight or fight” mode or on high alert. This can cause an
inability to relax and enjoy life. When you are trapped in a situation that you
have little or no control over a sense of dread can occur.
You
have two primary options if you have endured continued traumatic stress:
1) Medication and therapy and/or 2) Work through the above tips on healing from
trauma, work through the trauma with someone you trust and with God, naturally
alternative treatments such as Kava and chamomile, speak scriptures out loud
over yourself daily that pertain to your situation, and ask Jesus into every
situation that you are in and for Him to bring the healing to your memories,
body and to your emotions.
Though you may have walked through the fire, God can
not only bring you through the fire but you can come out without a burn or scar
upon you. Jesus Christ is a healer and He does care about all of your trauma.
Seek God for the wisdom for the right direction you should go for your healing.
Healing often occurs in stages in multiple
layers. Jesus can and often heals through many sources, and yes, He can
also heal miraculously!
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