by Heidi Zaffos, LMFT
_“You have to live through your pain gradually and thus deprive it of its power over you. Yes, you must go into the place of your pain. What is your pain? It is the experience of not receiving what you most need. It is a place of emptiness where you feel sharply the absence of the love you most desire. To go back to that place is hard, because you’re confronted there with your wounds as well as with your powerlessness to heal yourself. You have to begin to trust that your experience of emptiness is not the final experience, that beyond it is a place where you are being held in love.” (Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love)
In his book, The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen intimately describes the rawness and courage required to face our pain. I love how he says “go into the place of your pain”. It’s as if he’s describing a journey. This is how I often see counseling. A journey of entering a place where we are confronted with our wounds and losses while trusting there is more to come from our experience of emptiness and loneliness. There is an awe-ness and sacredness to this process. I invite you to be curious about this journey. Reach out to a counselor if your curiosity leads you to a place of desire to experience “going into” your personal story.
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Heidi is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and co-founder at Foundation Counseling. She enjoys working with individuals, couples, and families in the Marietta & Kennesaw area. Learn more about her and other therapists at Foundation Counseling here.
Heidi is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and co-founder at Foundation Counseling. She enjoys working with individuals, couples, and families in the Marietta & Kennesaw area. Learn more about her and other therapists at Foundation Counseling here.
Foundation Counseling 