Part One
Unlocking emotional patterns and walking in freedom from the negativity that comes with them is a subject I am particularly passionate about. I had a season in my life that was so joy filled and pure it was the epitome of the word THRIVE. A new season brought a few bumps and the strength we had and joy in Him overcame them. But then hurts continued to come faster than I (thought I) could process and instead of releasing the negative energy coming my way quickly, I began to put it aside and stuff it in a drawer. But the pressure in the drawer eventually caused it to burst forth at the seams and begin to overspill. I began to address the overflow. I am diligently but not painlessly sorting though that mess and putting emotions and feelings and thoughts in their proper perspective, releasing them and walking towards freedom once again.
Paramount for me in being able to release negative emotional baggage is my relationship with God (YHWH). To date, every unpacked wrong story in my heart has had a direct correlation with a wrong perception on who He says I am or how I see Him. For instance, the children of Israel in Deuteronomy complained, “Had Yah brought them out of Egypt and into the wilderness to die?” They let their negative emotional patterns reign rather than letting them be purged. They were out of slavery now and in a safe place and God (YHWH) wanted to help them rewrite some of those hurts and pains. A better perspective might have been to ask God, (YHWH), “What do you want to show us about Yourself or who we are to You?”
As Chris from noblecall.org says, we need to judge our circumstances by who we know God (YHWH) to be and not judge God (YHWH) by our circumstances. But sometimes a trauma (see the definition of traumas at the end of this post) occurs and we begin to tell ourselves a wrong story before we realize it. If not released, we may find ourselves repeatedly feeling confronted by these painful feelings in one form or another. It is as if our body is trying to get our attention and purge itself of it’s negative energy. I either continue to block that (stuffing emotions), release it negatively (angry outbursts, self pity, feelings of rejection, etc) or find courage and tools to facilitate it’s release and find joy. If released properly, I can catalog the pain as a memory and not a festering wound. It becomes a moment in time that gives me victory and freedom rather than ruling my life in constant defeat.
As I have compared notes between the most amazing restoration of my life in one season, the deterioration of the next and the reviving of the present, there are a few components I believe are essential to being able to unpack a trauma(s), or hurt(s), (real or perceived). This must be accomplished in order to walk in wholeness from them. These moments in time become part of our maturation and character growth.
Carolyn L Mein summed up how to release emotional patterns well in a way I connect with by saying it like this:
Identify the pattern that is linked to the emotion,
Understand the pattern and the opposite side of the emotion,
Learn the lesson by discovering the way out of the situation,
Clearing and reprogramming the pattern in the body’s cellular memory,
Changing DNA and releasing the pattern from the memory held in the limbic system of the brain.
Essential oils play an important role in unlocking emotions and reprogramming the body’s cellular memory. I am going to explain in my next few posts what each of these mean to me and how I have utilized similar steps in the past and present to facilitate wholeness and healing.
To be continued…
“The Life Model” describes traumas as:
Two types of trauma are described in the Life Model – Type B trauma is the kind we usually think about and involves the bad things that happen like war, rape, assault, child molesting and emotional abuse. Type A trauma is often referred to as “neglect” but the absence of the basic necessities in our lives produces traumatic effects of its own. Type A traumas include malnutrition, abandonment, insecure bonds and a lack of joy in the home.
Bad things that happen to us do not always produce trauma, if a person has the strength to experience the pain they suffer but without being traumatized. What traumatizes a poorly grown brain is often handled by a well-developed control center in another person’s mind. The stronger mind will be able to quiet itself, stay in relationship and act like him or herself in the face of the pain levels. Suffering well is the alternative to being traumatized that comes as we grow our capacities.