Thursday, April 28, 2011

Carolyn Myss


When I lived in Vermont in the early 80's, I became interested in energy work, and went to see a famous energy worker named Eleanor Moore, who lived in Peterborough, N.H.  I remember when I first called her to set up an appointment, there was a powerful scent of peppermint throughout my studio after I set down the phone........later she told me nonchalantly it was one of her guides, leaving herbs.  

Once I went to visit Eleanor, and a young woman was sitting in her conference room, her bald head wrapped in a scarf.  I sat there with her a long time, and finally Eleanor came in, and my appointment began.  I asked her who the woman was, and why she wanted me to hang with her, and she told me she had cancer, she  needed me to give her some extra energy, and didn't I see the blue light coming out of my forehead for her?  I had to answer that I did not, and forgot about it.  A year later I went to visit Eleanor again, and asked about the young woman.  Her response amazed me:  "Oh, that girl!" she said, "she just had to get even with her father, so she went and died!"

Eleanor's uncharacteristic lack of compassion surprised me, and at the time, I didn't have any understanding of either psychology, or energy medicine.  Years later, I discovered  Carolyn Myss and her book Anatomy of the Spirit , which helped me to heal from illness, and to release a life that ended with a divorce, in order to go forward into a new life.  Her way of  dealing with our "energy bank account", and our unconscious "shadow energies"  helped me to, as she puts it, to "pull my spirit back" from the past, in order to go forward.

Carolyn is a tough, passionate spiritual leader who isn't afraid to "tell it like it is", and I've been grateful to her ever since.  I'm still on the road, without much time to write, but wanted to share here a few of her brief talks for anyone who isn't familiar with Carolyn.  Among many other ideas, she coined the term "woundology", which is widely used now in spiritual and psychological  circles - a difficult insight that I had to look at for myself.  

As she recounts, in 1988 Myss had an experience that made her realize the power that lies in "being wounded". 
"One day, in passing, I introduced a friend of mine to two gentlemen I was talking with," says Myss. "Within two minutes, my friend managed to let these men know that she was an incest survivor. Her admission had nothing whatsoever to do with the conversation we'd been having, and in a flash I realized that she was using her wounds as leverage. She had gotten to the point that she defined herself by a negative experience." 
Once Myss became attuned to this phenomenon, which she called "woundology", she saw it everywhere.
"In workshops and in daily life I saw that, rather than working to get beyond their wounds, people were using them as social currency, they were confusing the therapeutic value of self-expression with permission to manipulate others with their wounds. Who would want to leave that behind? Health never commands so much clout!"
 At this point,  Myss began to realize that people did not always want to heal. Why People Don't Heal and How They Can shows how choosing to stay stuck in woundology often comes at a terrible price: the loss of health.

"We are given a finite amount of energy to run our physical bodies, our minds, and our emotions, as well as to manage our external environments, and when we choose to siphon off this energy to keep negative events in our histories alive, we are robbing that energy from our cell tissue, making ourselves vulnerable to the development of disease." 

Once this path is seen as the true energy debt that it is, choosing health means choosing to release the weight of the past. Too often, this is something that people just can't or won't do, because it can also be a life ploy that negotiates for them.  Myss also teaches that
"While the practice of woundology is a common source of illness, personal negativity is not always the cause; as contradictory as it seems, sometimes illness can be the answer to prayer. Our spiritual development is meant to culminate in an ability to see things impersonally, to recognize the greater meaning of life's challenges apart from the literal events.  To that end, illness can physically guide us onto a path of insight and learning upon which we would otherwise never have set foot. It is an unparallelled catalyst for expanding personal consciousness."




5 comments:

Mammoth said...

"It is just that we are in total illusion to our experiences in this life...our entire experiences are of a natural order. We, as a life force, enter and leave this experience, and the changes are of the memories of our experience. We were not intended to have controls of the experience but instead we are moved by it. When we leave (left) the constructs of the 'Realm of Love' we then enter into uncharted waters. 'We have no say, nor do we want any say as to how this Earth experience dictates it's rotation, it's life forms, extinction or not, it is the request of 'others' (Galactic Custodians) that they do this. As for us, we rediscover the Realm of Love, and experience this wondrous world. Our job description is as a tourist, not the grounds keepers, we are misinformed by...ourselves"

sukipoet said...

Actually Carolyn Myss lived in Walpole NH for a time, not far from where I now live. I think it was in the 80's, Thanks for the quotes. Hope yr trip is going well.

I had a friend once who also told people, strangers, about her childhood incest. i always thought that it was so powerful in her psyche that she needed to voice it into the world. something that is not talked about a lot and that she may have been taught to keep secret.

in that sense maybe it was good for her to speak out. she wrote a whole series of poems about it too. i didnt feel she was trying to manipulate sympathy, but to divest herself of her wound.

Valerianna said...

Thanks- a good way to begin the day... !

Lauren Raine said...

Thank you, Mammoth, for sharing your thoughts. I agree that love is at the core, but sometimes, getting there is a long way....

Suki, thank you as well. I used to live in Putney, VT, and knew of her work at Stillpoint across the river. And I agree, telling our stories is very healing, and telling in art and poetry especially so, also for others. I think of the poetry of Sylvia Plath, for example. but I also think Myss has a point - coming from a family dynamic where the "victim" archetype is very deeply embedded.

sukipoet said...

thanks for your comment on my poem Lauren. Yes, you are welcome to republish it! I'm touched.