Relationships can be complicated as every place that we are not healed goes with us into our relationships. So basically, all relationships can be triggers. Relationships can provide fertile ground to help you to become more self-aware. As a result of this process, you can learn to identify where you have been wounded and have not healed. Healthy relationships provide the soil to plant seeds of healing and unhealthy ones plant seeds that “reinjure’. Our unconscious can be like a radar which attracts to what is “familiar” however if you came from a family that was dysfunctional then what is familiar can be unhealthy and toxic and yet you may struggle to be able to see and acknowledge this.
HOW TO STOP AVOIDING YOUR PAIN
Depression is “anger’ turned inward. You may be struggling with a battle of depression that hit suddenly or very likely there is a long-term pattern of “shaming and blaming yourself. And feeling ‘not good enough”. You may be feeling helpless and hopeless although in worldly terms “you have achieved success”. Your feelings of emptiness and lack of joy may now seem to be running all areas of your life. This your wake-up call to no longer neglect and ignore your pain but to learn how to give yourself the attention you so need in order the healing process to begin1
HOW CHILDHOOD TRAUMA EFFECTS ADULT RELATIONSHIPS
As a child you were completely dependent and vulnerable:”like a little hostage”. If your parents were emotionally unavailable and not equipped to nurture and protect you by providing safety for you then a deep wounding occurs in your soul. If your family was one where your emotions were ignored, criticized, shamed, then you got the message at an early age that it is not safe to be “you” and in order to “survive” became disconnected from yourself. To be intimate with another it is essential to be self aware, vulnerable, and accountable.
ADULT PAIN OF CHILDHOOD EMOTIONAL NEGLECT
Have you been denying and avoiding the pain inside?
Do you constantly need validation and praise but even when you get it you feel it is not enough?Do you struggle with identifying your feelings and have difficulties verbalizing your wants and needs in a direct way? Do you often feel that you are “not good enough” Are you overly concerned about the needs of others and fear rejection and abandonment?
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Do you shame and blame yourself when you begin to have angry feelings?
Are you “exceedingly” grateful for every “crumb” given in your relationships?
BREAKING THE CHAINS OF WORK ADDICTION
Are you noticing that your life is out of balance and you are becoming more emotionally and spiritually shutdown and disconnected from yourself and others?
Is it is getting more and more difficult for you to set boundaries and limits on time you are
working? Is it difficult for you when it is time to leave work to know that it is time?
Do you constantly ruminate about work and strive for perfection?
Are you exhausted and yet you do not know how to rest?
Are you starting to see that your addiction to work is related to your history of trauma?
MEN : BREAKING THE SILENCE OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE
Have you stuffed and minimized what happened to you in an attempt to cope?
Are you wanting to move forward but feeling unable to move and “stuck”?
Are you in a battle in your mind constantly and filled with shame and guilt?
Are you feeling depressed and anxious most of the time but try to hide it?
Has the wounding to your self esteem colored how you feel about yourself?
Is it difficult and sometimes feeling impossible for you to “feel safe” and “to trust’?
HOW FEAR OF INTIMACY EFFECTS RELATIONSHIPS
Do you feel and believe that you are :unlovable”? Do you fear rejection and abandonment and have built a wall around your heart in an attempt to “protect yourself”? Do you have a history of unstable relationships? Do you have a pattern of shutting down and avoiding what is going on inside of you? Do you have difficulty addressing conflict and either stuff your feelings or explode? Do your trust and self esteem issues stem from childhood trauma?
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA IS THE ROOT OF ADDICTION
Are you becoming more aware “of how you avoid you” and that it is difficult for you to connect with yourself and others and how your addiction(s) fuels this “stuck” place? How does the disconnection with yourself effect your life now? Do you have many distractions that enable you to “numb out” and remain disconnected from the “war” within? Do you avoid conflict by “any means necessary” rather than address what needs to be confronted? Are you struggling with depression and anxiety and have times of feeling “hopeless” that you can ever be truly healed from all the pain/shame inside? Do you have an overwhelming fear of rejection and abandonment that colors all of your relationships?
PANDEMIC OF UNHEALED WOUNDS
Are you starting to see and no longer deny and avoid the effects of your unhealed wounds in your relationship with yourself and those close to you? Have you been experiencing pain in your body as your memories and emotions are more difficult now for you to stuff and avoid your pain? Are you feeling overwhelmed and “stuck” by your woundedness and having difficulty moving forward? Are you starting to understand how essential it is for you to address your pain and no longer neglect yourself so that you can begin to heal?
HEALING FROM THE PAIN OF ENMESHMENT
Do you feel that you are walking on eggs in relationships? Are you fearful of abandonment? Constantly trying to please others or read their unspoken messages? Are you afraid to assert yourself? Do you base your self esteem on how others see you or how you perceive that they see you? Do you have difficulties setting boundaries and limits and often are intruded on by others? Do you fear disappointing people? Were you raised in a family where your boundaries were consistently violated and your voice was shut down? Do you feel helpless at times and filled with guilt and shame? All of the above can be effects of enmeshment and are blocks to forming healthy “fully alive relationships” ..but there is help, hope and healing on the way!