As you may know, I believe ourchildhood, beliefs, environment, and languageare massive components of our overall health. In my work, I guide peoplethrough my27 pillars of regenerative healthto help them overcome anyhealth challenges they may have.
One of these pillars is about finding what’s “un-metabolized or undigested” inyour life. This broad theme essentially refers to something “traumatic” thathas created a “wound” within you. These traumas don’t have to be extreme likeabuse; they can be a culmination of consistent neglect, unkindness, unrealisticexpectations, bullying, being raised in a dysfunctional family, feeling invisible,or struggling with financial pressures, weight issues, or painful schoolexperiences. Many people operate from these wounds, allowing them tobecome a core part of their identity. They use their wounds as currency, sayingthings like, “Because of what happened to me, I am this way.”
This is where the work of Caroline Myss, one of my esteemed teachers, comesin. She works with Jungian archetypes like the wounded child, the martyr,and the victim. Donald Trump is a perfect example of theWounded Childarchetype; he acts like a child and, when he doesn’t get his way, he “punishes”people. We’ve all witnessed his version ofa tantrum.
I myself have discovered that I’ve been operating from a number of thesearchetypes and actively work to heal them. These archetypes can be as blatantas Trump’s or more subtle, like the real victim consciousness people havearound money or love. You can recognize these patterns in their language—forexample, blaming their parents for their messed-up view of love, complainingthat the government takes all their money, or believing that making money isjust too hard.
These wounds can go undetected, but when we bring the light of consciousnessto our behavior, struggles, and relationships, they start to become clearer.From there, the work is about finding where you are leaking energy or power,where you’ve given away your future because of your past, who you areblaming, and where you are not truly “free.” What happens when you can’t move forward from a painful experience is that your spirit essentiallyseparates from your body.
This is truly one of the most significant parts of healing, and it’s something nosupplement or weight-training regimen comes close to. I have seen people’sbodies do miraculous things—let go of chronic illness, rosacea, bloating,thinning hair, infertility problems, insomnia, and so much more.
To illustrate the power of this pillar, I have a story for you this week.
David Chet LaHaye Paladin was a Navajo man whose story, as told by him,highlights the profound truth that forgiveness is essential for healing. Hisstory suggests that unless you forgive, you’ll never reclaim the parts of yourspirit that have been lost to past hurts, which drain your energy and lead youto perceive your life as a disaster.
The story begins with David, also known by his Navajo name Chet LaHaye, whogrew up on a reservation in the Southwest. As ateenager, he was a seriousalcoholic. At 15, he and a friend left the reservation to wander. Theyeventually found work on a merchant marine ship, where they sailed theSouth Seas. David, an artist, sketched the islands and, crucially, alsodocumented Japanese military preparations for World War II.
Around the age of 17, while still on the ship, they met a young Germanrunaway, and the three became friends. When the war broke out, they wereforced to return home. David’s drawings were turned over to the U.S. militarybecause they were of great value. Drafted into the army, David was assigned asa decoder on the European front because of his fluency in Navajo, a languagethe Nazis couldn’t translate.
He was eventually captured and tortured. The worst of the torture was beingnailed to the floor by his feet, where he was forced to stand for three dayswithout food or water. The Nazis, believing he was not a typical prisoner ofwar, decided to send him to Dachau. As he was being forced onto the train, hewas recognized by one of the guards: the German friend he had met on the merchant marine ship. This friend saved his life by getting him onto a trainbound for a regular POW camp instead.
After the camp was liberated by American soldiers, David was found semi-conscious. Due to confusion over his identity, he was sent to the Russians, thenback to the Americans, and eventually to a Veterans Hospital in Battle Creek,Michigan, where he spent two and a half years in and out of consciousness.
Upon waking, he could barely walk due to heavy leg braces and was tormentedby what he had endured. He decided to return to his reservation to saygoodbye to his people before spending the rest of his life in the hospital. He hadbeen away for 11 or 12 years.
When he arrived, crippled and crawling, the tribal elders gathered and askedhim to tell his story. He recounted the events impersonally, as if observing hisown life from a distance. He remained detached until he reached a specificmemory: a Nazi guard who would force him toeat maggots and chickengizzards. This was a moment of profound trauma, but the elders listenedwithout judgment, simply bearing witness.
To help him heal, they performed a ceremony. They tied a rope around hiswaist, threw him into a deep body of water, and commanded him to “call yourspirit back,” warning that they would let him go if he could not, as no one canlive without a spirit. In this sacred, out-of-body state, David had to confrontevery memory that held a piece of his spirit captive. He worked his waythrough them, cutting the emotional strings that bound him, until he cameface-to-face with the image of the Nazi guard who had tortured him.
Facing this figure in his dream state while in the frigid water, David finallysaid, “I forgive you.” The forgiveness was not just mental; it came from thedepths of his being. In response, the image of the guard spoke to him, saying, “Iwas trying to keep you alive, and that was the only food I could find.”
This moment of profound forgiveness and revelation was his turning point. Hefelt his legs heal and was able to swim back to shore. He never returned to the Veterans Hospital. The story highlights the lesson that the truth behind apainful situation may not be revealed until you can forgive and let go. Thereward for his forgiveness was not an illusion, but the truth itself.
Excerpt from “Why People Don’t Heal” by Caroline Myss.