I have been taking care of people for as long as I can remember. Part of my job is to help people realize that they don't need taken care of. I opened my first practice as a neuromuscular therapist and Reiki master 9 years ago. Before that I spent my life helping my father manage his illness and addiction. I have seen thousands of people in my career as a teacher, healer, philosopher, and no matter who you are we all have one thing in common. We are all wounded.

We carry our wounds with us throughout our lives. As a martial arts teacher, I trained hundreds of broken men (and a few women) who needed a way to feel safe and powerful. As a bodyworker I've helped soothe the suffering of broken bodies and broken spirits. Most people want their wounds to go away. They want things to go back to how they were before, to who they were before. But there is never any going back. Time marches ever forward. Even if I could turn back time for people, wouldn't they just have to go through the wounding again anyway?

I myself have been wounded

Just like all of my patients. In my time as an athlete and a martial artist I've broken my bones, torn my muscles, injured nearly all of my joints. In my life I've experienced the five wounds of humanity: rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, and injustice. I'm left with a lifetime of wounds that never really go away. And I've learned not to want them to go away. They seem like old friends to me now, when they show back up.

Our wounds

As Rumi says, are the cracks that let the light in. My mentor Arno always reminds us to harken back to the time when our heart was cracked wide open, to embrace the raw humanity of that moment and to approach people with that same depth of feeling. In vulnerability lies our strength. First it takes strength to admit that you've been wounded in the first place. Next it takes the courage to admit that you still are. Finally, when you learn to love that part of your self, the part that you're ashamed of because you think its broken, then you start to heal.

Healing often leaves scars, though.

Little (or big) reminders that you aren't the same person you were before. Sometimes it's a bodily pain that arises to help you remember your limits. Sometimes its a heart hurt that calls to mind your deepest lessons. All pain, all wounds, and all scars are ultimately in our lives to serve us. "Bless the pain, for it bears its perfect fruit in perfect time." Like the wear marks on a beloved and well-used tool give it personality, so too do our wounds and scars.

Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting that you go out and seek pain and hurts in order to learn. There are other ways to learn. But when these things come into our lives lets not let them go to waste, right?
Visit The Adjustatorium today.