Knowing that our lives matter, that our suffering had meaning and that we are loved are so important and that was something that really occurred to me listening people share from their stories of hope and pain today. This afternon I picked up Deepak Chopra’s book The Deeper Wound : Recovering the Soul from Fear and Suffering and read this which really spoke to me.
My soul can lead me to healing
I will become one with my true self.
With this first affirmation we begin the healing process. These affirmations (99 more follow in the book) shift our attention from the external world to the inner world, which is the source of light. Suffering threatens to make life meaningless. That it the greatest danger, not the pain it inflicts. It is up to each of us to restore meaning. Doctors cannot do it for us with their medicine; friends cannot do it for us with their solace and comfort. You are healed when you can say to yourself : “I matter. I belong. I am worthy. I am safe. I can express myself. I am loved.”
The need to feel we matter
The need to feel we belong
The need to feel we are worthy
The need to feel we are safe
The need to feel we can express ourselves
The need to feel that we are loved
Are not at least some of these conditions present in most of our modern malaises? As I read this paragraph it occurred to me the lack of these things were what I heard shared in that meeting today. I also shared how sometimes I have felt that God hates me which is akin to saying I do not love myself since if God lives anywhere he lives in each of our hearts and in the natural world around us.
So to restore healing we need to find way to feel like, we matter, we belong, we are worthy, we are safe, we can express ourselves and we are loved and can love in return and it seems to me that when we discover the reality of our truer deeper self that knows it is loved and is loving we find that healing.
How we get to there is, I guess a different journey for each of us, but it seems to me when we open to the soul that lives inside of us answers do come. If we also open to being healed of feeling like we don’t matter, belong, have no true worth, are no safe are prevented from expressing our (true) selves and that we are not loved then just possibly we will be shown a way forward. I like to believe this.
Deepak continues
The spirit knows more about us than we do ourselves and it wants to support our every step towards wholeness.
The spirit is the light filled part of us that has the capacity to shine itself in our darkness, that is into our fear, our feelings of not mattering, belonging or feeling good or safe or free enough to express and feel love. When we open to the light of spirits energy we are asking to be filled from within from the source of love that exists in everything around us and also deep inside of us as a hidden wellspring. That source knows what we need to do to heal, it can shine light on the dark places and it can help us find a way from darkness to light if we truly open our soul and consciousness to the gifts of healing.
What matters is your connection to your true self. In fear and isolation, your soul seems aloof, with no power at all. But this is a perception that is born of following the ego, which we all have done. If you take the time to listen to the voice of the soul – when the ego is silent – you will be astonished at the power you have at your command. No other discovery in life is as joyful as regaining your true self. Falling in love is the only comparable event, yet it is temporary, and depends upon the other person, the beloved. Your true self is forever and depends upon no one other than yourself. When they say suffering enobles a person, this means that the impetus of crisis, old habits and perceptions are uprooted. The unknown makes itself felt, and if you open yourself to it, the meaning of the soul reveals itself as a truth that you never anticipated before the crisis began. In this way every suffering is seen to contain a hidden spiritual message.
Emerging From The Dark Night 