The Six Stages of Emotional Healing

Growth is a very uncomfortable process, but in the end, it's worthwhile. Healing, growth, and empowerment all go hand in hand. In order for us to grow, we have to heal from our past trauma. Once we start to heal, we start to feel a sense of empowerment. Healing allows us to reclaim our power. It gives us the opportunity to put the broken pieces back together, and become stronger than we were before.

Emotional healing is the ability to acknowledge the circumstances in our lives that are causing a burden, and hindering us from moving forward.

According to Shelley Klammer, there are Six Stages of Emotional Healing, such as awareness, expression, regulation, reflection, transformation, and corrective experiences. 

1. Awareness: Once we become self-aware of our emotions and we come to terms with what we're feeling, we allow ourselves to reflect and better understand our experiences. This motivates us to identify where we need to make the necessary changes and make improvements.
2. Expression: Expressing your emotions is important, because we need to convey our true feelings. It's important to be open and honest. We have to allow ourselves to feel these emotions, let them go, and deal with them in a healthy way.
3. Regulation: The next step involves regulating your emotions. When regulating your emotions, you have to create a safe space for yourself. Create an environment that's calming, so you can allow yourself to be empathetic and validate your emotions. Medicate, exercise, or run a hot bubble bath, in order to calm your nervous system.
4. Reflection: Self-reflection is essential, and it requires you bringing attention to what's happening in your life, in a mindful and open-minded way. It's mainly about self-awareness, and  there are many ways you can practice self-reflection. My favorite method is journaling and writing down my thoughts and feelings. 
5. Transformation: The transformation process requires you learning to change your mindset, and transform negative emotions into higher emotions. According to Shelley Klammer, "new embodied experience can be as simple as creating a daily gratitude or appreciation practice. We can literally re-sculpt our biology through small, positive decisions to focus on something other than our emotional pain."
6. Corrective Experiences: This stage of emotional healing allows you to bypass your defenses against your emotions or intolerable thoughts. Correct the negative emotional patterns that were conditioned from earlier times. 

Healing is a process, and it comes in waves. Sometimes you’ll feel like you’re finally healed and over something, but some days the old wounds will open back up. Don’t give up and don’t get discouraged. It gets better with time, just try to be in a better place mentally and emotionally than you were yesterday. You’re stronger than you may think. 

Sources:

https://www.shelleyklammer.com/post/2017/05/31/what-to-expect-from-emotion-focused-therapy

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/convergence-and-integration-in-psychotherapy/202005/corrective-emotional-experiences