It's natural to stop when someone is physically injured- or even when the "might" be
What if we honored emotional wounds in the same way?
What if, instead of barreling forward, we paused... checked on ourselves + each other... then move ahead, together?
When someone gets the physical wind knocked out of them, we pause.
We wait.
We create sacred time + space for healing.
What if we created room for people to breathe when they got the wind of the soul "knocked out" of them?
(What if we encouraged emotional health + healing in the same way we encourage physical health + healing?)
A lesson from sports & pausing for physical injuries
When I used to play sports, I learned quickly that we somehow “revered” and honored the injured. A few times a year, at wrestling tournaments, for instance, someone would “get the wind” knocked out of them. Either they fell to the mat too hard, or got pinned in a whimsical way…
When this happened, everything in the entire gym-- even on multiple mats-- stopped. People took a knee. They were silent. They created sacred time + space for the man to catch his breath.
💔 Even if they were rivals- no one wrestles against an injured man.
💔 Even if they didn’t know the man that was injured- no one ignores an injured man, either.
💔 Even if they were in the middle of a conversation or busy doing something else important.
Everything and everyone stopped.
Once you see it, you can't "unsee" it
You’ve probably seen this before yourself. It happens every year, even on national television, when college football ramps back up in the Fall. Each time, the story is similar:
😳 Someone gets injured.
🚑 We usually learn they’re injured when they “don’t get up,” that is, when they “stay down” after the play.
(Notice, many times injured people can't get to us and tell us that they're hurt- we have to notice it in their actions or their absence on the "front lines.")
⏰ Everything else stops.
The game clock. The ball boys. The scurrying around the sidelines to create tactics and strategy for the next big play.
It all halts to honor the wounded.
And when they get up
I remember seeing men get up in those wrestling tournaments. Most of the time, they’d only gotten the wind knocked out of them. When one of them stood, everyone-- even the opponents-- cheered.
Once they were OK, everything resumed…
And when it happens again (because it will)--
❤️ No one will make a judgment as to how the player got hurt.
❤️ No one will declare, "If he'd only been doing _____________," then this wouldn't have happened.
❤️ No one will blame him-- even if he somehow caused the injury.
No, we'll all stop-- people in the stadium and people in sports bars and people in their homes. We'll pause. We'll wait. And we'll cheer when he gets up.
Reality check, make it personal
The fact is that we’ve all gotten the wind knocked out of us in some way. When the physical wind gets knocked out of us, we stop. But, when the emotional wind, the wind of the soul, gets crushed... well, we often ignore the injury.
During this video, I talk about what it means to create space to deal with emotional hurts in the same way that we deal with physical wounds…
You see, emotional hurts and pains… well, we tend to avoid stopping for them. In fact, we’re encouraged to “man up” and push forward without dealing with them. We’re encouraged not to talk about them, not to appear to be weak, not to slow things down.
👉 Sometimes, the healthiest thing we can do when we’re injured is to just stop.
👉 Other times, the most honoring, kind thing we can do for others who are injured is to pause. To let them catch their breath. Even to be silent as they do.
Soul Wholeness | An online course to help you find mental health + emotional healing
Want to learn more and learn now?
Access the Soul Wholeness video course and you'll learn things like:
💜 What true restoration + healing looks like after a tough emotional season
💜 Three common soul wounds-- triggers (PTSD), guilt & shame, soul ties-- and how to walk through each into wholeness
💜 Practical steps you can implement and/or teach friends & loved ones
