Choosing your healing outcome: There's more to it than surviving

Setting an intention, or a goal, focuses your energy and attention toward the desired outcome. This is why I encourage you to choose your healing outcome wisely.

If you were to choose between surviving and thriving, which would you choose?

To survive is to continue to be alive in spite of an ordeal like sexual assault. You might 'move on,' but you have never quite recovered. There’s still a part of you that is damaged, however big or small, conscious or subconscious. Part of you is still wounded, and you are still carrying that old hurt.

To thrive is to grow and develop well, to prosper and flourish even after an ordeal like sexual assault. What if you grow and develop from the ordeal of sexual assault, so that you have more strength, depth and grace? And a quality of life that is similar, if not better, than the one you had before you were sexually assaulted?

I find that most of my clients choose to thrive.

Does this mean you can erase the sexual assault from your experience, or your memory? No.

‘Recovery does not mean that you forget what happened. Instead, recovery is being able to understand and believe that the victimization was not your fault. Recovery is accepting the reality of what has happened, while moving beyond the immobilizing emotions which can dominate your thoughts, words, and actions. […] Recovery is being able to enjoy sleeping, eating, and sexual pleasures as you did before the assault. Recovery is being able to trust and believe in your choices and own judgments.’ Turning Point Services

I couldn’t have put it better myself. I would also add that there can be:

• A greater sense of peace
• A sense of wholeness, and completion within yourself - even with the hurt, shame or anger you might have experienced
• A better way of being with the vulnerability you might experience

When we can more fully embody this, we can then enjoy:

• True strength and resilience in our heart and spirit
• Fuller, more intimate, and more enjoyable relationships with friends, lovers or partners
• Real freedom from the fear, anger, and shame.
• A deeper ability to give and receive love

I know this is possible because I have done this work for many clients. I have also gone through this process myself. And these are the outcomes I facilitate for my clients.

To return to the outline of the healing process, click here.

To view the article on the next step of the healing process, click here.

Well Wishes,

Michelle Soo

ph: 0403 798 963

email: michelle@theinnerlife.org

website: www.theinnerlife.org