Self Worth Part 3: Why Would Anyone Choose the Path of Emotional Healing and Integration?

Why bother? Why go to such effort? By its very nature, emotional healing often feels hard, dark, yucky, exhausting, and maybe even terrifying. It is likely a path filled with at least some shame, regret, pain, anger, and grief—maybe even self-hatred. Nothing about this sounds attractive.

But here’s the truth:

If you want to live your Best Life, then you want to choose the path of emotional healing and integration.

What Does “Best Life” Really Mean?

“Best Life” here means living in such a way that your basic needs are met, as are your needs for creative expression, love and connection, movement, freedom, inspiration, purpose, and meaning. Each person’s Best Life is unique. We are each designed for our own Best Life—it is what God/Life/Creation has intended for us.

As referenced in previous blogs, it is what your Soul and Body are asking you to return to—that state you were born into and are inherently worthy of, simply because you are here on this planet right now.

Emotional integration and healing, physical healing, and high self-worth go hand in hand. Healing and integrating emotions will help heal your body. Choosing actions that heal both emotions and the body naturally flow from, and result in, a higher sense of self-worth. When a person lives from a place of high self-worth, they step into the flow of living a more authentic Best Life—the one they were uniquely designed for.

Why Put Effort Into Emotional Healing?

If you need more tangible reasons to invest time and energy into addressing your emotional state, here are three:

1. Science Supports It

It is scientifically proven that repressed emotions make the human body sick. In my early career, it was considered “woo woo” to believe there was a connection between physical symptoms and emotional health. Not that long ago, even meditation was seen as “fringe.”

Now, extensive research validates the connection between mind-body-spirit, nervous system (emotional) regulation, neuroplasticity, and the benefits of modalities once dismissed as fringe—such as massage therapy, chiropractic, functional medicine, herbal remedies, and energy healing.

2. You Can’t Selectively Numb Emotions

If a person does not allow themselves to feel the “bad” emotions, then they also cannot feel the full range of “good” emotions. If you lock down feelings like shame, regret, and grief, you also block access to joy, love, contentment, and peace.

The effort it takes to keep the “bad” emotions in check spoils most good moments. This is why I so often hear my coaching clients say:

“I have a good life, why can’t I enjoy it?”

It’s not because you are ungrateful or broken. It’s because your Soul and your nervous system will not allow you to ignore the darker parts of your emotional landscape and history. These parts are calling for healing.

Yes, it can be painful to do the work. People try to ignore it, but mental, emotional, and physical symptoms eventually arise. No one gets a “get-out-of-jail-free” card when it comes to emotional expression, healing, and integration. It’s painful either way.

There’s a saying: “Life is hard. Choose your hard.”

It can be hard to live a life of survival—merely existing in patterns of low self-worth, physical illness, and dissatisfaction. Or it can be hard to face and release trauma, integrate emotions, and learn to live authentically. The difference is that one path keeps you stuck, and the other sets you free.

Note: I am not saying that people purposefully choose to feel physical or emotional symptoms, or that patients “create” illness. I am saying that unprocessed emotions, past trauma, and oppressive societal conditioning will manifest as symptoms if they are not healed.

3. You Become a Light for Others

When you choose the path of emotional integration and healing, you become a beacon of hope. You show others how to courageously take responsibility for their emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Your life becomes a demonstration of the miracles and joy that can come from bravery.

In doing so, you give loved ones around you permission to live their Best Life too. Imagine—what kind of world would we create if most people you saw each day were living their version of Best Life?

The Good News

There are countless ways to integrate and heal past traumas, emotions, and conditioning. There is a modality out there for everyone.

At Partnered Healing, we use a variety of functional medicine and coaching tools to support your healing journey. Through Turning Point Health and Wellness, clients also have access to a broad network of talented practitioners across all areas of healing.

We are your vision holders for your Best Life.

Stay tuned—our next blog will explore how to begin healing your emotions in practical and effective ways.

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Written by Jessica Cochran BSN, RN, Integrative Life Coach