The Gentle Act of Comfort

There are many people who are suffering, for many reasons, and feeling alone, misunderstood and fearful. There are also many people who are in their lives who do not know how to respond to this pain. They don't know what to do or how to act around this suffering and loss. And so this energy of awkwardness, emptiness, anxiousness and misunderstanding grows.

We don't like to see the ones we love and care for struggle. It causes us distress and discomfort. Often times this makes us feel like we need to DO something to help ease their pain. It also gives us something to focus on instead of being in our own pain and discomfort. But this is not always the needed action. To simply be present with someone who is in pain and allow them to just BE is often the most important thing we can do and a very powerful gift to be able to offer.

Try to remember a time when you were hurting. There really wasn't much anyone could do, the situation existed and you had to live through the loss, the hurt, the disappointment and learn how to move on. The reality is all you really wanted was for someone to offer some compassion, to give you a hug, to hold your hand, to be gentle with you as you tried to move through the hurt, the suffering and find some clarity on what was next. Remember how it felt when that was offered to you. Remember the ease it brought to your heart and mind. Remember how you felt honored and witnessed. Remember how grateful you were for the space of kindness and compassion.

Solace is a tremendous and necessary gift that when offered genuinely and with grace is valued beyond measure. To be able to be with someone who is suffering, sit with their pain and bring your time, your heart, your soul presence is a beautiful offering that holds tremendous healing energies.

We are a fix-it society. But often, when there is pain and loss, the best way to bring peace to the wound is to offer it time, gentleness, rest from the struggle and compassion, tender compassion, to the wounded soul. It keeps that place in time simple and uncomplicated. It keeps the energies quiet and pure. It keeps the heart open and the flow gentle. Bringing this to the life of a friend or loved one who is hurting is a very special gift you can offer; a heart to soul healing love.

Blessings, Lisa

Bringing Presence to Your Support

There are times in my shamanic work that I am sitting with someone who is in tremendous suffering. I, no matter how much my tender heart may want to, cannot remove their suffering. Nor should I, for there are times that it is through our suffering that we find our healing. And yet the client sits before me, seeking my services; wanting to find relief and release from their pain and loss.

And so the work becomes one of being present. I bring my presence to the relationship we are sharing together. By doing this there is an expansion of the energies between us. There is a widening of the understanding, often first on a soul level, but then with time the heart and mind follow.

Pain is a great inducer of change. We all have pain in our lives. This is not about whether it is fair or not, pain cannot be measured by that scale. This is not about how terrible or unfortunate the pain is; for each of us suffering feels bad. But this is about the fact that when we are in pain it is a natural force within our soul to move away from it into an energy of change, to find a flow that supports growth, evolution and insight.

Supporting someone in understanding that their pain can become a vehicle of transformation is sometimes the very shift they need to step out of the hurt and into the healing. We cannot rid someone of their suffering or pain, but instead we can help them find that there is some truth in the pain, sometimes there is beauty there as well. In our suffering, if we can remain present, we can often find meaning. In this meaning is the next step that takes one out of their unbearable pain. It is an encouraging force that beckons them to look beyond the pain into tomorrow or at the least, into the next moment.

I have worked with those who have faced unbelievable suffering, loss and pain. In the moment, they felt there was no way out of it. But with time, remaining present for them, when they could not, space was created so that the energies could expand and shift. With time, tenderness, compassion and presence the soul found its way out of the wound and into the healing. The story did not remain stuck in the loss and hurt. The unfolding of the vibrations of the continuum of life brought the client to a place of healing and wholeness, away from the space of pain and brokenness.

The best medicine a shaman can offer to a client is that of being fully present to all that the moment holds. It is within that precise exchange of energies that the client feels witnessed, supported and held. From there the healing can begin.

Blessings, Lisa