Oprah Winfrey once said, ” Turn your wounds into wisdom.” As a Marriage and Family Counselor I have the honor of working with individuals and families as they strive to better their lives and relationships. I have the great privilege of seeing people turning their wounds into wisdom. This requires courage, a willingness to think about times that were difficult and a decision to heal. There are many ways to accomplish this and here are three ways to begin:

• Acknowledge that you have wounds. It is difficult to heal a broken leg if you try to walk around all day pretending it isn’t broken and it doesn’t hurt. Emotional wounds are the same. The first step is acknowledging and identifying your wounds. Some may be from long ago and some may have occurred yesterday. Regardless of when the injuries occurred, if they are ignored or minimized they are difficult to heal.
• Heal your wounds. This may be through tears, anger or radical self love. This may begin with the decision to stop abusing yourself with chemicals or harmful relationships. Some find answers in prayer or meditation, others through support groups, time in nature or artistic expression. There are countless ways to heal. As you come to accept that you were wounded and that you want to heal, you will most likely know what you need to do for this. This does not mean you have to go it alone, only that the answers are often times found within yourself.
• Share your experience with others to offer them the hope and possibility of healing. This can be done by working with others who may have experienced similar struggles. It might mean telling your story through words, music or painting. Perhaps you will share your time or resources with programs which are set up to help others heal.

Ideally there would not be the wounds in the first place. It would be easier and far less painful to gain wisdom in other ways. This is not the reality for most people though, and so the belief that we can turn wounds into wisdom is powerful indeed. I am grateful to be able to walk the journey with those who are courageous enough to acknowledge and heal their wounds. It is in doing so that they themselves, and all of us, benefit from their wisdom gained in the process.

If you are looking for a therapist in the Twin Cities area please contact Trisha Falvey, LMFT