Are Your Wounds Healing?

We are all aware that when we cut a finger or scrape a knee, you need to keep it clean so it can heal.  If you continue to 'pick at' the scab or let it get dirty, the wound may become infected and cause more problems.  But what about your emotional wounds?  Are you letting them heal?  If you continue to ‘pick at’ at your emotional wounds, just like a cut becoming infected, they will not heal.  If you don’t let the wounds heal, they may become infected with hate, anger, frustration, and a severe loss of love.

Emotional wounds are experiences that cause you embarrassment, anger, hurt feelings, disappointment, etc.  Being criticized by your boss or co-workers.  An argument with your spouse or maybe even a divorce.  A misunderstanding with your friend or neighbor.  There are many, many things that happen everyday that can cause these emotional pains or wounds. 

How do you ‘pick at’ an emotional wound?  You ‘pick at’ the wound by constantly replaying it in your head, trying to come up with things you should have said or done.  Or trying to analyze what someone meant by what they said to you or about you.  Constantly reliving the experiences in a negative manner will only increase your anxiety and frustration of the event.  It will eventually make you bitter about the circumstance and probably determined to ‘get even’.  There is nothing positive about these thought processes.  Recreating these events will only reinforce your ability to become more cynical, bitter and distrusting of other people.

The only positive thing to be gained by replaying these events in your mind is to determine where you can improve your response to these types of events in the future.  This is part of the growing process of a human being.  Learning from your experiences and improving your own behavior.    When you let your emotional wounds heal, peace of mind will be much easier to achieve.

- Joe Freeman

Copyright © 2001 by Joe Freeman. All rights reserved.