I’ve been reading Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Pete Scazzero, and wow is it helpful.

I’ve known for a long time that I have trouble feeling my feelings as feelings. That sentence seems so convoluted, but I have so often denied, repressed, numbed, or ignored emotions that it has become hard for me to even recognize them when they show up. I’m learning how to feel emotions again, or maybe for the first time.

I’ve started to realize that many of my aches and pains and twitches and sneezes and so forth that come up in my body are indicators of emotions that I’m not aware of. And often those emotions point to old hurts that have never healed.

So I’ve started paying attention when I have a runny nose or a sharp and sudden pain in my knee or a serious tight spot in my back. I’ve started asking myself whether there might be an emotion that accompanies the pain. I’ve started asking whether that emotion might bring me back to a memory or a pattern that needs healing.

And then, I bring the pain, the sickness, and the feelings to God. I look for a passage or verse that might speak truth into my situation. I offer the sadness or fear or joy or relief in prayer. Sometimes the pain remains. But sometimes, the pain ebbs. The sneezing stops. Sometimes, I get to bring my whole self to God and experience healing.

“God may be screaming at us through our physical body while we look for (and prefer) a more ‘spiritual’ signal.” – Pete Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

To read more with Amy Julia:

• What Is My Body Telling Me?
• Fasting from Busyness (Waiting for God)
• Hospitals and Hospitality: Places of Healing

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