Creating a Healing Symbol

Creating your own personal healing symbol

I have been doing some reading lately on the idea of a healing symbol and how these work - or truly do they work - and then why do they work and I found some interesting information that I thought I would offer before inviting you into a guided process to I identify your own Person Healing Symbol.

Symbolism heals faster than logic

Symbolism heals faster than logic because … The part of the brain that holds trauma does not speak in words reasoning. It speaks in images, sensations, rhythm and emotion, the same language symbolism uses.

Trauma is primarily stored in the subcortical and right hemisphere brain regions- Brain stem Limbic (amygdala, hippocampus) sensory motor areas. These regions develop before language, and respond to images, tone, movement, and feeling, and do not respond well the rational explanation.

Logic speaks to the new cortex - trauma lives beneath it.

Symbols bypass the inner Gatekeeper

The rational mind acts as a filter - analyzes, judges, defends, suppresses

While symbols slip past the conscious resistance - they are ambiguous and non - threatening, they allow the nervous system to organize safety.

For example A Drum beat, a myth or a story or an animal image , doesn’t argue - it invites.

The brain thinks in metaphor

The brain works in metaphor it organizes meaning through metaphor.

Dreams use symbolic imagery to process emotion.

Memory is stored associatively not logically.

This is why

DREAMS HEAL

ARTS HEAL

RITUALS HEAL

Symbolism id the brains native language.

Symbols hold multiple truths at once

Logic seeks clarity and linear answers

Healing requires

PARADOX

AMBIGUITY

EMOTIONAL COMPLEXITY

Symbols contain pain and strength, fear and protection, loss and meaning logic would split these apart symbols hold them together.

Symbol creates meaning instantly

Logic requires time, repetition and effort.( not to say that logic isn’t important it is logic helps to understand pain.

Symbols help us to release it

So I would love for you to experiment with this yourself if your interested n a

Guided process to Identify Your Personal Healing Symbol

Before looking inward

Feel your feet on the ground

Let your eyes soften

Take one slow exhale (longer out than in)

This tells your system I’m here and I’m safe enough

It’s important to take the time to ask the right question moving away from what should heal me to

What images feel supportive to me right now.

It is important to remember

you are not searching

you are allowing

The answer may be subtle

Give yourself some time and notice what appears first

A symbol can show up as an

An Image

A color

An animal

A place

A texture or element ( stone, warmth, light)

Or just a felt sense without a clear picture.

The first neutral or comforting thing is usually the right one.

Check in with the body (this matters the most)

Ask your body - not your mind :

Does my breath soften?

Do my shoulders drop even a little?

Do I feel more present, not spaced out?

If yes - this is you resource symbol

If no - gently let it go and ask again

Let the symbol define itself

Don’t analyze just notice:

Is it near you or around you?

Is it still or moving?

Does it feel protective, steady, warm, or spacious?

You don’t need meaning yet function comes before interpretation.

If nothing appears

That’s also information - Not failure.

Take a moment and ask what quality do I need the most right now - warmth, rest, or space?

Often the symbol comes after the quality.

What makes a symbol healing

A true personal healing symbol :

does not demand action

does not replay memories

feels steady, not dramatic

makes you more here not elsewhere.

My invitation to you is to give this a try and see what comes forward for you.

Give yourself time to work with this symbol.

Connect with it in the morning, and through out your day. If you’re feeling a little stressed or out of sorts just take a small break, not too long, and connect. Come back to that feeling of safety and comfort, let that feeling stay with you and then carry on with your day. Connect again with it in the evening before bed.

Let the healing wash over you.

Take time to journal, and notice how you are feeling, notice any changes that begin to occur while you work with your healing symbol.