From Poison to Power and Purpose: Transforming our Wounds
We have the power to set ourselves free!
I grew up in a very dysfunctional family, where neglect and abuse were rampant. For many years of my life, I kept this hidden and was afraid to share my experiences with others. I was terrified of anyone knowing my story and my dad finding out, which would have resulted in great violence. I was ashamed and felt I had done something to deserve all the suffering I had gone through as a child and adolescent. I had become convinced I deserved to be punished and was not worthy of unconditional love and support. It wasn’t until I was around 13-14 years old, I came across a quote by Maya Angelou that said, “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
Reading that quote was a pivotal moment in my life, it shifted everything for me and within me. I realized I had been a child, not in control of the people and environment around me. How could I possibly be the one responsible for all the pain I had endured? It helped me realize I was not less than deserving or worthy because of the things I went through. It began a journey of releasing myself from blame and shame, and redistributing that blame where it belonged…with my parents and their lack of providing a safe and secure environment to thrive in. I had survived my childhood, but it would be years until I could heal and make peace with my past. It would take years, and a lot of trauma healing and therapy, to come to terms with my experiences and transform them into something greater. I have since learned a great deal about my soul’s unique journey and all I came here to learn, heal, transform, and embody!
Where do our Traumas originate?
We all carry wounds and traumas from this lifetime and from our past lives. Often past life wounds will carry into our next incarnations until we heal and resolve the roots of these wounds. These wounds can come in many forms, such as: having experienced betrayals, that create mistrust of others; they can be abandonment wounds, in which we constantly feel the need to prove our worth and enough-ness; they can be from experiencing violence, such as war, which manifests in physical ailments or never feeling safe; If someone experienced slavery in a previous life, they may feel powerless in their current life. We all carry themes of these wounds, but how they show up in our own lives might be different than for others.
We can also carry wounds through generations. For example, if someone had a relative in this lifetime who was Native American, was forced from their land onto reservations, and who had to attend reform schools, their relatives may, and likely will, experience deeply embedded family wounds. Native Americans alive today experience higher rates of alcoholism and suicide compared to white counterparts, due to the history of violence Native and Indigenous groups have experienced throughout history.
What happens to us when we experience Trauma?
When we experience deep pain caused by a person or situation, that pain becomes a lived part of our experience. It becomes a part of our body and psyche, it gets encoded into our DNA. Some wounds, like sexual assault, can be so great they create soul wounds, which cause our souls to fragment. This means, a part of our soul, might become disconnected or damaged, as our soul is so overwhelmed by the pain being experienced in human form. This part of our soul can become lost to us, until we create the opening for it to safely return to us. Our souls are an unconditionally loving and pure beings. They struggle to understand the cruelty that can exist on Earth and that might have occurred to us in human form. When the Soul fragments, it creates challenges for the person in their current incarnation, that can carry into the next. We can feel an inner knowing of not being whole or feeling lost. We can feel dissociated from our bodies and our lives.
There is hope! Our wounds do not have to define us and who we can become! We have the power to heal and set a new path for ourselves! Just as we can inherit wounds from our past lives and our families, we too can inherit resilience, grit, wisdom, and other gifts that allow us to live with love and fulfillment. When we decide to heal our traumas, wounds, and the pains that have been passed down within our families, we can recover our power and return to wholeness. We can create inner resilience and strength that we can also pass down in our families. This is one way we can become cycle breakers and leave behind a new legacy for our Soul and people in our families and communities. We can become the models for healing and harmony that we did not witness or experience in others.
How do we heal, transform, and break free from our pain?
We can transform our pain, and the poison pain created in our lives. We can gain strength from our past traumas and use them as fuel to reclaim power, passion, and purpose. For example, if we look at the artist Frida Kahlo, she experienced great physical pain and trauma to her body, that kept her bedridden for many years of her life, and yet she became a talented painter and artist, whose art has inspired many others. She did not let her pain stop her from becoming a gifted artist and powerful muse for others. She channeled her energy and emotions into something greater and learned to work with her disabilities.
When we take ownership of our stores and our healing process, we empower ourselves to grow and expand beyond what we endured. We become much more than our experiences and our wounds. We gain a deeper understanding of ourselves and how we can channel what happened to us into something greater. There are many artists, musicians, athletes, writers, and other creatives who do this. We can give a voice and expression to our pain and use it to become better allies to ourselves and others. We can become more compassionate, empathic, and understanding of others. We can give more grace and be more patient with ourselves and others. We can inspire others with our courage and ability to overcome and teach others to do the same simply by doing for ourselves.
How can you understand your wounds and empower yourself?
When we look at the challenges and pain that have consistently shown up in our lives, we can begin to see patterns that point to our wounds and their roots. The patterns in our lives and our relationships will always reveal where our wounds exist and how they show up. We can look at our family history and what our relatives and ancestors endured to better understand ourselves and our own experiences. When you look at the reoccurring patterns of challenges within your family dynamics, relatives, and family history, you will see they point to the origins of soul and ancestral wounds. Once you begin to witness these through the eyes of love and compassion, you can begin to transform even the deepest of pains. It is through accepting the truth of ourselves, our past, and our stories that true healing can begin. Sometimes we can’t see our own blind spots and inner biases. Sometimes we need others to help reflect to us what we cannot see within ourselves and our lives.
When we create enough inner safety for our stories to be expressed and shared, we can sometimes feel worse before we feel better. This is a natural part of the healing process, and it does get better as we continue to free ourselves, and the pain, that has lived within. Once we create consistent inner and outer safety, we can begin to call all parts of ourselves and our power back to us. This is when parts of our soul that have been fragmented are able to come back to us and we can return to a state of wholeness. It is through this healing process we can give ourselves closure and empower ourselves to discover the gifts that we gained in overcoming our hardships. We can transform what we once saw as weakness into some of our greatest strengths. As we do this, we reclaim our inner power and begin to live a life of more emotional, mental, and physical freedom. We have a much more peaceful body, mind, and heart. As we do this inner work, we can retrieve the parts of the soul that were once missing and experience greater fulfillment and joy.
This is some of the greatest work I do with my clients…to help free them from the pain of their past and their wounds to bring them into a powerful state of harmony with all parts of themselves: body, mind, heart, and soul. I help remind them of their strength and how to use their innate gifts to live a life aligned with their purpose and passion.
Would you like support in transforming your pain into power? Click here to learn more about private sessions with me!
Sarah Seraphina is a Spiritual Activator and Liberation Guide. She is the owner of Nurtured Essence, a healing space, aimed at helping women overcome their past patterns and fears, so they may thrive and live with more power, purpose, ease, and joy. She specializes in working with dreamers, healers, recovering empaths and “Damsels in Distress”, highly-sensitive women, lightworkers, and women with a sacred mission.
