Written by: Emma Heywood Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
It is that time of year. Darkness falls upon us earlier and earlier, cold air grips our faces, and we turn on extra lights and candles to create coziness and to create safety around us.
We know what to do to get through times of external darkness, we search for the light. We know that the darkness won’t stay. We know the light of Spring will come again. But as we live through darkness, we need to keep working towards that light.
Lighting the path out of trauma
We all live through personal times of darkness, we all spend time looking for the light. How do you find your own, personal light?
Through emotional pain, through fear, through anxiety, how do you find your light in your moments of darkness?
You find it by actually going deeper into the dark. By going deep into the crevices of your very being. Of your past…of your subconscious mind.
Just like that relief that the candle sparks at the twilight of the day, hypnotherapy will guide you on your own personal journey towards the light. Hypnotherapy empowers you to not only find your own path through the darkness, hypnotherapy also empowers you to find your light that shines brightly within.
Therapy that works
You know the expression, “it’s always darkest just before dawn,” it is the same with our own personal journey. Sometimes we have to go deeper into the darkness before we can emerge into the light.
You may have heard the phrase: “What you resist persists.” It’s true. What you are too scared to face in your own internal darkness, will keep showing up in your outer life.
Overcoming the doubts
You may be scared to know what’s buried within you. You may be scared to dig deeper. It is only though, by confronting the pain, from really leaning into the pain, that the pain will begin to dissipate.
I get it. You may think if you explore that darkness, that pain, it will never go away. That you’ll get trapped in it. That if you feel the hurt, or the anger, or the sadness, or the unworthiness, that you’ll get stuck there.
However, it’s the opposite. It’s when you face that true, deep emotion, when you fully allow yourself to feel it, that it will start to move through you.
The only way out is through
Light only emerges from darkness. Pain only heals through immersion. The emotions living inside your subconscious mind are there, whether you’re ready to face them or not. Your emotion wants your attention, it’s begging for you to feel it. And your subconscious is your emotional mind, your feeling mind, it doesn’t care about logic. Your subconscious mind is always running the show. So those emotions you’re afraid to face are running the show.
How do you stop them from running the show? By giving them the attention they want. An emotion will stay part of you until it no longer requires to be felt. Thus, when you allow yourself to feel the pain, it can move through you and stop controlling you. The heaviness becomes lighter.
Overcoming trauma
I, too, know inner darkness. I know that level of pain where you think there isn’t a way out, that you’ll be stuck in that debilitating place forever. I used to live in that pain, that fear. Not thinking I would ever get out of it. But I did.
This is why I am so passionate about hypnotherapy and healing. Because the only way out is through. If you want to discover the light, you first have to move through the dark.
I’ve battled depression, anxiety, and PTSD after experiencing sexual assault. And I had to make a decision. Was I going to get up every day, show up for myself and heal, or was I going to live in that pain? Was I going to find my light and my spark again or stay trapped in the darkness?
I decided to fight, and I am so glad I did, as everything I’ve been through has made me the heart-based “light” warrior I am today.
Truly: What you resist persists. For years I was resisting confronting my honest emotions in therapy. It was only in hypnotherapy when my subconscious mind wouldn’t let me hide anymore, did I find true understanding and relief.
In hypnotherapy, I was ready to see what was there.
For the first time in hypnosis, I felt ready to confront my pain. It was such a relief to truly feel it, express it, and then be able to let it go. I got out of it because I went through it.
Facing my darkness, I found, and became, my light again.
Healing the trauma
There’s a misconception about hypnosis: that you will relive trauma. You don’t. You review your past in a way that gives you actual relief (and think about it, you can’t relive the good moments of your life either! You can’t go back and eat the best meal you ever had, you can only review and remember how tasty it was).
You are in control of your healing
In hypnosis, you are in control. You allow yourself to feel the true emotion, and you actually want to. You get that emotion out in a way you haven’t been able to before. It is the most powerful experience.
Going into your own personal darkness, exploring the depths of your subconscious mind, is the way to get your power back. It is the way to become emotionally free. It is the way to find and become your light once again. It’s the way to get your spark back!
Going to therapy and uncovering what’s inside you is a deeply courageous act.
I know it can seem scary to go to those deep parts of yourself, but I promise you it is worth it.
Life isn’t about feeling good, happy, and perfect in every moment. It’s about how you respond to yourself. How you show up for yourself. How you keep finding your light in a world that keeps knocking you down.
You are guiding your healing
Life is about getting to know yourself deeply. With love. With curiosity. With understanding and compassion. This is the ultimate self-love: your resilience and commitment to your healing. The capacity to hold yourself and your pain with love. To find your light through the dark.
By going into your subconscious mind, and facing your pain, can you emerge the other side fully living in your light once again.
Finding the beauty within
And the beautiful thing about hypnosis and rewiring your subconscious mind, is living in the light, living as the spark you are, becomes your new habit. Your new way of being.
The only way out is through.
So for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere this time of year, may you find the support to go inward. Nature is asking us to. Give yourself the time and space to explore your inner depths, even if darkness is there, to emerge more powerful and lighter than before.
Let’s light all our lights.
Ready to feel free? Check out my Free Abundance Hypnosis Recording here.
Emma Heywood, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Emma Heywood is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, a practitioner of Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT), Performance Mindset Coach, and a classically trained actress, performing on stage from North America to Europe. She has been on her own mental health journey since she was 12 years old. She knows what it’s like to struggle with depression, anxiety, and PTSD. She transformed her life using RTT, hypnosis, and the power of her subconscious mind. She went from living a life of trauma and low self-esteem to one of inner freedom, self-worth, joy, abundance, and embodying her purpose. And now she helps others do the same. You too can live a life free from self-doubt, fear, low self-esteem, and anxiety. You too can become the most powerful, liberated, confident version of you yet. Emma will be your guide: see you on the other side.
