You’ve borne your pain long enough. Move forward with courage and self-compassion, knowing that it is never too late to heal and enjoy a level of fulfillment beyond your imagination.
Healing may seem like nothing more than a means to get rid of pain and restore physical health. A scab forms over a cut, or the muscles and tissues reconnect after knee surgery.
Returning to physical health is one aspect of healing, but as important as physical healing is, you cannot fully heal if you ignore inner wounds. The knee may bend again and only a scar remains from the cut, but this is no guarantee that you will feel better.
Why inner healing?
Western medicine is designed to care for the physical body, but that is not the only thing that needs healing. Body, mind and soul are one whole. What happens to one affects the whole. For example, when you feel sad, there is no sparkle in your eyes or dance in your step. It manifests in your mind as a loss of motivation and enthusiasm, even for things you have always enjoyed. Left unhealed, inner suffering silently affects every aspect of your life.
Holistic healing involves identifying the unmet needs of the mind and spirit, understanding their origins, and finding healthy ways to cope with them. Healing is not about fixing what is broken. It’s about reclaiming your life. It is an integrative process through which the entire self undergoes change, and it cannot be rushed.
Healing inner pain gives us our life back.
- It frees the mind from negative emotions and sabotaging self-talk.
- It breaks destructive behavioral patterns.
- It awakens the spirit and restores hope, confidence and faith.
Why now?
You may not think you need inner healing, but who among us hasn’t felt the crippling effects of inner pain? The World Health Organization reports that mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and trauma-related disorders are at an all-time high. It is estimated that 23 percent of adults in the US and 1 in 7 adults in Canada experience a mental health crisis at some point. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of mental health crises among young people have increased dramatically.
These statistics don’t tell the whole story. How many people do you know who are satisfied and enthusiastic about life? While there may be no diagnosis of mental illness, the pain of fear and hopelessness casts a long shadow over many of us.
Where do inner wounds come from?
Trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry isn’t alone in believing that childhood trauma is at the heart of today’s mental health crisis. The root of inner pain can arise from circumstances that seem all too normal:
- Neglect due to lack of proper care, attention and emotional support
- Unrealistic expectations, which often reflect a parent’s needs, rather than those of the child
- Domestic dysfunction, such as parental addiction or domestic violence
- Instability due to divorce and poverty that deprives the child of the essentials of life
- Chronic illness that makes a child feel powerless and isolated
In my case, I have come to understand that my need for inner healing is partly related to the trauma my father had as a 17-year-old boy in the First World War. Like many veterans, he turned to alcohol late in life as a means of coping. His suffering was so deeply buried that he could not talk about it until late in life. As a child I couldn’t understand his pain. All I saw was that he could go from a loving parent to a monster overnight. It took decades for the coping patterns I developed as a child to change.
Stepping stones to healing
In my father’s day, treatment was woefully inadequate. Today, however, with understanding and compassion, there is a viable path to healing from within, shown in these stepping stones:
Step 1 – You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken
When we name a long-buried trauma, it no longer has power over us. Ask yourself:
- Where does the pain come from?
- What happened to me that led to distorted views of myself?
Tools that can help you name your journey include journaling, meditation, and honest self-examination.
Step 2 – You are not just a body
Invest time, energy and – if necessary – money in healing the whole self. Discover:
- What self-sabotaging habits do I use to keep me in my comfort zone?
- What new habits can I adopt to support my body’s healing?
- What new habits can I adopt to support my mind’s healing?
- What new habits can I adopt to support the healing of my inner spirit?
Tools that can help you heal your whole self include breathwork, yoga, connection with nature, mindfulness practices, and somatic therapies.
Step 3 – Trust the journey
You can’t move forward by looking back. Trust the journey and know that it is never too late to heal and find fulfillment. Dive into:
- What strengths do I have as a basis for healing?
- What should I learn from the challenges along my way?
- How do I celebrate myself?
Tools that will help you move forward include self-care practices, support networks, and professional help.
The last few years are the last chance you have to become who you were meant to be. Stand up and free yourself from pain and suffering that is not of your making, but that keeps you in the shadows and robs you of a full life. Bring meaning back into your life. It can sometimes be hard to believe that you can be happy, but trust the journey. and step by step on the way to the full life you deserve.
Author biography
Dr. Susanne T. Eden has spent her career leading educators across Canada as a teacher, author, consultant and staff developer. Among her achievements, she is past president of the Canadian Association for Young Children and past chair of the Board of Directors of Seneca College, Toronto Ontario. Now 87, she shares her personal story of healing and personal transformation in her book: Healing from Within: Living Fully as You Age (September 13, 2025), inspiring others to approach the gift of aging with optimism and purpose. More information at www.susanneeden.com.
