"Sometimes there are no visible bruises, scars, or broken bones. The body acts as a very reliable record even in those instances. A short excerpt from one of my writings, 'Flashback,' (1994) describes some of the physical reactions I was experiencing.
The Trauma has turned to inside anger,
but since it doesn't come out of me,
it attacks the insides and turns to self-hate,
self destruction.
My stomach spasms with pain.
I feel heavy, heavy, heavy!
AAAAH!
but since it doesn't come out of me,
it attacks the insides and turns to self-hate,
self destruction.
My stomach spasms with pain.
I feel heavy, heavy, heavy!
AAAAH!
"I did not always feel stomach pains. Sometimes I would feel horrible chest pains or some other extreme physical reaction. For instance, I would wake up gasping and crying or my entire body would jolt with terror.
"Another journal entry:
"For nearly 2 solid weeks before Halloween, I was waking up every single night gasping or crying out and feeling terrified. . .
"All of these 'body memories' were significant to me. They were often harbingers of memories about to emerge into consciousness. It was as if they were the tips of memory 'icebergs' coming to the surface from somewhere deep beneath the ocean." (My Tears Fall Inside, pages 40-41)
When we don't express our emotions in healthy ways, they affect our physical body. Negative emotions such as anger, can cause physical pain and illness. Many times we misunderstand emotions. Though some emotions are more negative, emotions themselves aren't "good" or "bad." Emotions just ARE. What makes them good or bad is what we do with them in relationship to others.
Some of the things I have done to diffuse anger and other negative emotions are:
1. Write in my journal.
2. Write a letter to someone expressing all of the anger and hurt I feel, but don't send it. Writing down my feelings helps me to figure out where those feelings are coming from and helps clarify what they relate to. Also, the very act of writing them down sometimes helps to diffuse them.
3. Build a campfire in an appropriate place and imagine my anger burning up with the fire.
4. Buy helium balloons and write on them. Then let them go. As I watch them float up to the sky, I imagine that I am giving this problem to God.
What are some healthy ways you have learned to express your negative emotions?
"Another journal entry:
"For nearly 2 solid weeks before Halloween, I was waking up every single night gasping or crying out and feeling terrified. . .
"All of these 'body memories' were significant to me. They were often harbingers of memories about to emerge into consciousness. It was as if they were the tips of memory 'icebergs' coming to the surface from somewhere deep beneath the ocean." (My Tears Fall Inside, pages 40-41)
When we don't express our emotions in healthy ways, they affect our physical body. Negative emotions such as anger, can cause physical pain and illness. Many times we misunderstand emotions. Though some emotions are more negative, emotions themselves aren't "good" or "bad." Emotions just ARE. What makes them good or bad is what we do with them in relationship to others.
Some of the things I have done to diffuse anger and other negative emotions are:
1. Write in my journal.
2. Write a letter to someone expressing all of the anger and hurt I feel, but don't send it. Writing down my feelings helps me to figure out where those feelings are coming from and helps clarify what they relate to. Also, the very act of writing them down sometimes helps to diffuse them.
3. Build a campfire in an appropriate place and imagine my anger burning up with the fire.
4. Buy helium balloons and write on them. Then let them go. As I watch them float up to the sky, I imagine that I am giving this problem to God.
What are some healthy ways you have learned to express your negative emotions?
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