Wounded people

From Flying Free

What do wounded and traumatized people need at first? They need to be accepted - just the way they are. They need safety. They need time to let their mind catch up with exactly what happened to them. They need time to process and face the realities that are really theirs. They need to admit the truth, feel what they are really feeling, and be where they really are. They need to feel safe enough to unburden their hearts, in order to come to grips with whatever is going on inside of them and then be able to "get it off their chest."

Getting it off their chest involves admitting that it happened, describing what it was, feeling their feelings, counting their losses, expressing the pent-up emotions, and grieving those losses. They need a place where they can freely, openly vent and discharge the emotional voltage that built up as a result. Their soul needs time to truly resolve its inner conflicts and heal the wounds. By patiently helping them do this, you learn to bear one another's burdens, for real. You're not just dismissing another's distress with shallow, religious lip service. Quick fix cliches and religious, magical wand-waving merely prove that we really don't know what people need to deal with their distress, let alone teach them how to care for their hearts.

-Taken from The Ultimate Journey