Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Aug/Sept 2019 Aspire Mag FINAL | Page 25
trigger an unresolved pain that we haven’t
fully healed. The pain may seem to come
out of the blue; yet, it has been buried
in our psyche for years. Even when you
think you have worked through a traumatic
experience; the subtle layers of pain may
surface for healing when you least expect
it. Without full release, however, this psychic
pain can create chronic distress that can
manifest as depression, anxiety, or physical
illness. Only when such pain is released and
then, transmuted into positive energy can
we bring about self-healing.
Releasing emotional pain breaks open your
heart, so at first you feel “broken-hearted.”
Yet, you can’t release such pain with
your mind by trying to “just get over it.” As
painful as it may feel, breaking open is how
you break through to who you are at soul
level. Like stripping away layers of paint to
reveal handcrafted woodwork, you peel away
the layers of unhealed parts of yourself to
reveal the divine essence that lies within.
By leaning in to your “sweet pain,” you initiate
the life-death-rebirth cycle. In other words,
you move through a form of experiential death.
This metaphorical death allows you to liberate
yourself from your past and transmute your
By leaning in to your “sweet pain,” you initiate the life-
death-rebirth cycle. In other words, you move through a form
of experiential death. This metaphorical death allows you to
liberate yourself from your past and transmute your pain into
transformation. This only happens in the healing space of your
heart, the seat of your loving, compassionate self.
pain into transformation. This only happens in
the healing space of your heart, the seat of
your loving, compassionate self.
Experiential death creates a shift in your
consciousness, much like the experience
of dying and physically detaching from
the body. Such a shift can be frightening
or disorienting, especially when the brain
reacts to the act of letting go as a threat
to life, and triggers symptoms like anxiety,
heart palpitations, and lightheadedness.
But even in experiential death, what really
dies is your past experiences, not your true
being. When you clear your past at the soul
level, it actually becomes a “past life;” yet,
you remain in the same body. In fact, when
you let go of your old, painful self-definitions,
your soul energy rises from the ashes
like the phoenix—the mythical creature of
purification and transformation.
As the Buddhist nun, Pema Chödrön states,
“To live is to be willing to die over and over
again. From the awakened point of view,
that’s life.” Seeing these life-death-rebirth
cycles, as spiritual beginnings rather than
endings teaches us how to fully live. Just as
we know light through darkness, so can we
know life through death.
25