When we are sick or hurt ourselves, we feel pain. It is the body’s way of letting us know something has changed or is out of balance. It lets us know we need to take some time to heal. We can choose to ignore the pain and hope it goes away, or we can seek advice to speed up the healing process.

In the same way, emotional pain is the brain’s way of letting us know something has changed. We can ignore it and hope it goes away or we can learn ways to heal ourselves and create anew. People say; ‘time heals all wounds’ and certainly as life moves on you will learn to live with the pain. But to truly heal your life you need to take action.

If you fractured your arm, you are unlikely to carry on with life as normal and just allow time to heal the break. Firstly you would be in intense pain for a long time and secondly, your arm would not heal correctly and become strong.

Emotional pain is the same. It is only as you turn and face your pain that you can heal your life. The great thing is that you already have all the power you need to do this; you just need to learn how to use it.

Here are 5 ways to get started:

1.   Accept your feelings and don’t judge yourself for them. Pain is a normal part of life so allow yourself to feel.

2.   Find someone you trust to talk to. Don’t bottle your feelings up inside as they will just get bigger. Sharing the load with someone who loves you, helps you to heal.

3.   Don’t let anyone tell you that your feelings aren’t real. They are significant and important. Just remember that feeling alone doesn’t mean that no-one cares. And feeling sad doesn’t mean you will never be happy.

4.   Don’t allow this pain to define you. You are more than this one moment in your life and things will change again soon enough. Embrace your creativity and explore new parts of yourself.

5.   Write a list of things you are thankful for. If you do this often you will find your sense of balance again and start to move beyond the pain.

It is only as you take responsibility for your life that you discover how powerful you truly are.