Sometimes, we must grieve and heal alone.
After the death of a beloved pet, I found myself mute and self-isolating for a good part of this past summer. Because of my daily journal and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) practices, I moved through my grief with slow and steady progress. I ached, I wept, and I mourned, but I didn’t slip into despair or form a codependent relationship with any number of well-meaning people who were uncomfortable with my grief and wanted me to ‘get over’ it. After years of healing with EFT, a set of body-inclusive healing tools, I knew I could trust myself to navigate this highly significant loss without the support of others.
My relationship with EFT now seems inevitable, the final leg of a journey that began when I was two. Although I had no cognitive awareness of my body’s healing wisdom, as a toddler I knew through pleasurable physical sensations that being outdoors made me feel good. Indoors, tensions among adults triggered feelings of fear and isolation. Outdoors, I was at peace with the scents, sounds, textures, and surprise four-legged visits I experienced in my grandmother’s garden. This first non-verbal, physical, emotional, and spiritual healing experience has shaped my adult understanding of the body’s vital contributions to healing early trauma.