The transformational shift that can occur around the sacred wound feels a whole lot like a descent. It has a downward quality to it. It often feels heavier, stickier, thicker, and more difficult before it ever starts to feel better. In 12-step programs, they often say that one has to hit 'rock-bottom' before any real change can take place. When we acknowledge the emotion around the wound in a deliberate, conscious way, we take ourselves to a 'rock-bottom' place.
We expect and seek to create a sort of descent. At the bottom of the descent is both an acknowledgement and acceptance of the wound. People often report a sigh of relief. What they recognize is that those aspects of the wound that they’ve disowned becomes included into who they are. There is a very clear sense of widening, deepening, and expanding at the moment in which the descent has completed itself.
For many of us, this descent is unnerving. It has us feeling like we are going to head into a depression or it will just reawaken a wounding and there won’t be a resolution of it. For some of us, we’ve already done some sort of descent but didn’t complete the process, and, as a result, the descent only left us feeling more wounded. What’s important about this is that once the ride begins that we not get off of it until the ride is completely over. And as described above, the over process does feel like expansion or completion. When it happens, it’s clear as day. Before the emotion has completed, it feels half-baked.
Transforming the Sacred Wound Series
This is one part in a nine-part series that explores ways to heal and transform your sacred wound. Be sure to check out the other posts!