Truth and Healing are Found in Speaking About and Releasing Our Emotional Pain

One of the most dysfunctional problems for those of us who grew up in addictive households is facing emotional pain. Many of us were not allowed to have feelings as children. And so many of us entered Recovery programs unaware of how emotionally shut-down we were.

When we learned we needed to feel and face our emotions to get healthy, we were terrified. But this is one of the greatest gifts we receive when we attend our meetings: We are given the chance to speak up, release our pain and spit-out all of our pent-up emotional poison.

More and more I witness people crying during meetings as they speak. It’s hard to watch someone cry as I hear the sadness that’s consuming their hearts, but it’s also reassuring because I know that these people are starting the healing process. Sadness, accompanied by tears, is the healing feeling.

Some people don’t like to speak during 12 Step meetings, but it’s important for us to speak up, tell our stories and own our truth and our feelings about it. This is a primary form of healing. Of course, listening to other people’s stories is also a doorway into healing as we learn we aren’t the only ones who suffered in certain ways. It helps to lesson our need for isolation, which is toxic behavior for all addicts.

So I always encourage people to listen and to speak their truth at Recovery meetings. There is truth in our pain and there is also wisdom and healing once we face that truth by speaking it out loud.