There are people from our past who have hurt us in many different ways. Some of those people might be our parents, who may have done the best they knew how to do.
Although we want to forgive them, we wish we could tell them how they hurt us, but we are afraid of hurting them. Or we are afraid to anger them. We are concerned about the responsibility we feel to manage their feelings, so instead we suppress our own.
What if we could speak for the parts of us that are still carrying the burdens from the past?
What are we afraid would happen if we used words like “hurt” and “sad” and “scared” and “angry”?
What if we spoke up for our wounded inner child, even though our caretaking parts are afraid of burdening someone else?
What if we gave ourselves permission to speak our feelings out loud?
What if we gave other people the right to speak their own feelings, and gave ourselves permission NOT to fix, save or rescue them from what they might feel?
What if we learned to set healthy and appropriate boundaries for ourselves and others?
What if we could walk away if a relationship feels toxic?
People from our past can be our biggest teachers.
Even if we never choose to share our feelings with them,we can express our feelings here and now.
And we can accept all parts of ourselves with compassion and unconditional love.
We can feel what we feel, and in this moment, we can be safe.
