Deeply buried childhood wounds can have impacts on our lives well into adulthood. Major traumas such as the loss of a parent or sexual abuse leave scars that endure for decades. Even perceived smaller events like being bullied or neglect can have long-lasting effects. The truth is, most people suffer from wounds of some kind and these wounds cause a low energy vibration that hold you down and keep you stuck in negative loops. Once you recognize that past events are causing your low vibration and resulting experiences, you can work to raise that vibration and turn your wounds into gifts.

Seeing Your Wounds in a New Light

If you are still suffering from the wounds that were inflicted during childhood, you may feel that you just want to get past them and heal. While this is an understandable wish, what you should know is that wounds can actually be turned into something positive. As Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes teaches us, wounds rip us open and create a hole that can become a portal to the spiritual realm. When you view your wound as a gift instead of an injury, it can change your entire experience. Those who have never experienced trauma may seem more ‘whole’ than you are, but this also means they do not have the cracks in their soul that allow spiritual light in. It’s vital to see that even though you still harbor wounds from childhood, you are not a victim. Instead, remember that you got through it, and you are a victor with a higher purpose.

The Steps to Turning Wounds into Gifts

Of course, seeing your wounds as evidence of wisdom and turning them into gifts is not a simple or easy task. It takes a lot of grieving, soul-searching, and a willingness to understand what you’ve been through. It also entails forgiving those who have hurt you as well as yourself for any part you believe you played in the trauma. You must open your heart and allow your inner child to really feel the pain. If you’ve denied the wound for most of your life or have not allowed yourself to feel and grieve it, you are trapped in that part of your childhood where you experienced the loss and have never moved beyond it.

Once you have properly grieved the wound, you can start looking deeper into how this has affected you over the years. Make sure you look both at how it has held you back as well as what it has taught you. If you look deeply enough, you’ll see that your trauma has given you a unique insight that most others do not possess. When you are able to see the positive in your experience, it can help you open your heart to forgive those who inflicted the trauma and to forgive yourself for any involvement.

Damaged people are the most beautiful people on the planet because they have the chance to rise above their trauma and use their experiences to help others do the same. If you have childhood wounds, take the steps to turn them into gifts that not only heal you, but also elevate you to a place of inspirational mentor.