Our healing relies not on avoiding or turning away from our pain but by allowing it to be there, as it is, and facing it head on. I saw this quote today by Pema Chodron and it seems to capture precisely what somatic therapy can help us with. As we learn to tolerate our pain, we can begin to face it, look at it, understand it, and ultimately move through it and soon we can find ourselves on the other side of it. May these words act as a gentle reminder to us all and help us to face ourselves with love, tenderness, and patience and assist us in opening to all that we are.
“Instead of asking ourselves, How can I find security and happiness? we could ask ourselves, “Can I touch the center of my pain? Can I sit with suffering, both yours and mine, without trying to make it go away? Can I stay present to the ache of loss or disgrace—disappointment in all its many forms—and let it open me?”
This is the trick.”
Pema Chodron
