Wounds fester and burn unless you face your darkness, your shadow, your disowned self, that which you reject about yourself.

I am calling for freedom. The kind of freedom that makes your soul cry out for joy, diving into the sea of possibility as if its life depended on it, as if it were life itself (which it is!). This is the kind of freedom of which I speak. How can we get there?

When we can accept and love our whole self, warts and all, it will bring us closer to the illusive ‘wholeness’ we seek. After all, a love affair with the self is the greatest journey that exists.

These words from Iyanla Vanzant are so deep, so apt and really bring home this point:

“Until you heal the wounds of your past, you are going to bleed. You can bandage the bleeding with food, with alcohol, with drugs, with work, with cigarettes, with sex; But eventually, it will all ooze through and stain your life. You must find the strength to open the wounds, stick your hands inside, pull out the core of the pain that is holding you in your past, the memories and make peace with them.” ~ Iyanla Vanzant

People will be there to guide you along the way, yet the real healing is up to you.
It’s important to acknowledge that we are human beings who feel, who grow, who evolve, who are always in a process of change.
Wounds make people feel important, and some people hold on to them as a source of pride. Some even mould their entire identity around their wounds.

Personality becomes “wounded,” self-power is lessened, the self is disowned, and the soul is imprisoned from expressing the freedom that it is.

Making peace with every part of us, especially the shadow, is what will bring us closer to being and feeling “whole.”