The Wounded Healer Journey. The pain, gifts and learning that comes from the wounded healer archetype.
Exploring the Wounded Healer Journey from the healers perspective. How our own deepest conscious and unconscious wounding, birth’s the gift to help heal others.
Why the healers’ journey is a lifelong path of self-discovery and self-exploration into our own inner world as much as the clients or patients we are called to help.
What is The Wounded Healer?
The Wounded Healer is a term that comes from the view that the healers is born from the light that enters the wound, the compassion that comes from one’s own suffering. In turn wanting us to help others because of that wounding.
The Wounded Healer concept originated from Greek Mythology;
When Chiron the Centurion was deeply wounded by Hercules’s deadly poisoned arrows. And although he could not heal himself, he used his deepest core wounding to help save another.
And in relation to the story of Asclepius the god of medicine, a Greek doctor who began a sanctuary to help heal others because of his own wounds.
The Light and Shadow Traits Of The Wounded Healer
The wounded healer is generally more conscious that their desire to help others heal is because of what they personally suffered from. But the reality is every physician, health or wellbeing practitioner, therapist or healer has core wounding.
Every person has wounds that cause them pain, suffering, triggers some sort of emotional reaction. That is why a healer who believes they are healed, have very little awareness and self-awareness.
No matter how healed you think you are. We are all a work in progress, all healers, all humans are wounded at some level.
We all have both light and shadow traits that show up as archetypal patterns in everyday life. That is why the healers’ journey is a never ending path of self-discovery and healing of our shadow wounds.
We all have shadow traits that need to be healed and as healers we need to be more self aware about any internal wounding’s or projections we may put onto our clients. So as not to cause more harm, as they say “heal thyself”.
My Own Wounds On The Wounded Healer Journey
As a wounded healer myself who began my own journey into becoming a healer over 30 years ago after facing all sorts of mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wounding. Especially wounding around medical harm and injury, and further wounding from a broken medical and healthcare system, ill equipped healers and therapists.
My own wounds led me to down a long path, a very road less travelled path. Where I met and worked with so many wounded healers. Many compassionate and self aware healers but equally many healers who lacked compassion, awareness or even just proper training. Who were actually inflicting further wounding and harm to their clients, patients and students.
From a therapist and healer’s perspective this made me question so much around the healers role and standardisation from an ethical perspective. Do healers today get enough training, go through a long enough and deep enough apprenticeship to prevent them from really harming others.
Every week I see so many over generalisations or comment by healers, therapist s or coaches that comes from deep lack of awareness, insight and experience. Ideologies that on so many levels can be deeply damaging to the psyche of the vulnerable and suffering client, the naive student.
Common Traits Of The Wounded Healer
Light Traits Of The Wounded Healer
Here are some gifts of the wounded healer.
Awareness and Self Awareness:
Wounded healers naturally have good self-awareness and awareness of others.This is what makes them natural healers as they are more aware of others needs, challenges and themself. They tend to know themself at a deeper level so are more aware of their own shadow which is extremely important in any sort of healing work.
Compassion and Empathy:
The wounded healer has great compassion for others, some have great empathy, that is why many empaths are natural healers and strong caregivers and nurturers who have to heal their own wounding around boundaries.
Deep Calling Or Purpose:
A deep sense of purpose, they just know in the heart and soul their calling is to help or help heal others.
Hero Traits:
Wounded healers can also have an element of the hero archetype where through courage, tenacity and determination through their own suffering they inspire, empower and motivate others. That is why the wounded healers journey is part of the hero’s journey.
Intuitive And Insightful:
The wounded healer is a natural healer, deeply intuitive and aware of things at a deeper level, they can sense beyond the surface of what is going on at the individual and collective level. That is why many wounded healers become energy healers and spiritual healers.
Helper Since Childhood:
Wounded healers tend to have always been life’s little helpers, starting from childhood.
Self Growth:
Have the ability to look at all pain, suffering and learning as an opportunity to grow and evolve.
Shadow Traits Of The Wounded Healer
Here are some dark traits that can show up in the unhealed wounded healer
End up suffering mental, emotional, physical and even spiritual burnout. Due to lack of healthy boundaries, psychic protection.
Destroyer Traits:
Destroys or disables others through their own wounding, their own pain, or egoic desires. Causing direct nor indirect pain to others or those they work with.
Co-dependency and Enabling:
When one constantly enables or rescues others. Provides strength, support and rescuing to others preventing the other take self-responsibility or co-dependent relationships. Or where therapists encourage clients to come to them for years or months and the client is not making huge progress.
Gaslighting:
Where one gaslights their clients, patients or students reality. This can come from narcissistic wounding, or even to control over power the client or patient such as from very biased, fixed ideology about what is going on with the client.
God or Saviour Tendencies:
Where the physician or healer projects on to the patient or person that they are the one doing the healing, the one saving them. Implying at some level they are their god or saviour.
Martyr Traits:
Will sacrifice their own wellbeing and life for others, for their work.
Illusion And Manipulation:
One of the strong archetypal traits in many healers is the alchemist and magician. The dark magician will often use illusion or trickery to manipulate, control or seduce the client or patient. For example making implications or promises they cannot guarantee, misrepresent information or knowledge for their own gain or from naivety.
Prostitute Traits:
Where one sells their soul, their spiritual integrity and gifts to the highest bidder for material or financial gain. This has become a big problem in world where spirituality and healing vocations has become inverted, over commercialised, seduced by glammer, populism and even celebrity status. Than what is at the heart of the true healers journey.
The Healers Journey
What I came to realise as a wounded healer on my own healing journey, was that as healers we need to constantly evolve and grow in our own healing, consciousness and awareness. What I believed 30 years ago as a healer is very different on what I believe know.
In a polarised world where we have so many light and shadow aspects to us and the collective. It is important to remind ourself that the healers path is painted with pain, gifts, especially of privilege and honour to the people we get to help and support. Because in that process we heal ourselves through the shadow aspects of another.
About Eileen Burns
Eileen is a highly compassionate and dedicated healer, therapist, soul empowerment coach and mentor. Who is passionate about helping awakened healers and lightworkers step more fully in their life and soul purpose with strength and ease. She provides a wide range of self study courses, meditations, one to one inner child, archetypal and spiritual business support sessions. More about Eileen’s Expertise and Qualifications Click Here.
The Wounded Healer Podcast
Wounded Healer To Hero Podcast is a brand new video podcast with Eileen and healer friends as co-hosts.
How To Feed Your Soul, nurture a deeper connection with your heart and soul. Raise your soul’s vibration to experience more spiritual joy and spiritual wealth in your daily life.
The more we nurture and feed our soul on a daily basis, the more we give ourselves spiritual sustenance and spiritual strength. The more mental, physical, emotional and spiritual resources we have to deal with life’s difficulties and challenges.
10 Ways To Feed Your Soul Today
Simple and easy ways to nourish your heart and soul on a daily basis.
Quiet Time To Connect With Your Soul
One of the most important things that we can all do to feed our soul is actually schedule out quiet time throughout our day to be still, to meditate, pray and connect with our soul. It is so important to take the time to be quite enough, still enough to hear our soul,hear god, hear our soul’s wisdom.
Get Soul Aligned
Getting soul-aligned in your life, purpose and business helps feed our soul. Making a conscious decision in our life, work and business to listen to what our soul is guiding is to do than the ego is pushing is to do. Helps to feed our soul with more spiritual strength, courage and discernment.
Singing Is A Great Way To Feed Your Soul
Signing to your favourite song is a great way to nourish and feed your heart and soul. Playing your favourite music and singing to songs that open your heart and soul will raise your vibration and outlook. One of the songs that really feeds my soul is Bliss’s – A Hundred Thousand Angels
Spend Time With Children
Spending time with children is one of the most heart-warming ways to nurture our soul, take us back to our own innocence, purity and magical elements.Young children particularly can help us be fully in the moment, experience more joy by doing what their heart and soul is guiding them too do.
Spend Time In Nature
Spend time in nature in the countryside, near mountains, near water, lakes, rivers, the sea. All so deeply soothing for the soul. Another way to bring nature into your life is filling your office and home with house plants. Use flower essences and essential oils.
Look At Beautiful Art
Visit a local gallery or art exhibition or local craft store, be inspired by creative souls that share their soul-aligned gifts. Support these heart-based artists and creatives who bring uniqueness and joy into people’s lives by sharing their beautiful gifts and dedication.Like my old friend Gail Stirling Robertson who creates some of the most quirky art, prints and other types of commissions.
Eat High Vibrational Food
Eating clean high vibrational food that is organic not genetically modified or contaminated with toxic pesticides will help raise your vibration and feed your soul. Especially food that is still fresh or recently picked as it still contains a certain amount of life force.Make a list of healthy foods you actually love to eat, fresh strawberries, juicy plump tomatoes, a refreshing melon, an apple straight from the tree, herbs from your window sill.
Do Something Your Heart & Soul Loves
Do something every day that feeds your heart and soul, choose something each day that your inner child would love to do.Make a list of all the things that give you joy that raises your vibration, raises your mood that will help feed your soul.
We become entangled and consumed by the chaos and confusion that is going around us.
Equally, if we hide our heads in the sand and try to convince ourselves everything in the world and even within us is not our problem.
We are in a state of disconnection or disbelief, believing we are powerless.
When the reality is we are all more powerful than we believe we truly are.
Sometimes We May Need
Sometimes we may need some rest, time out, healing, or space.
The mind, body, and emotions can become overwhelmed, and over-tired, and may need time to realign and recharge your batteries.
But you are not powerless.
But we are not powerless, you are not powerless.
We all are stronger than we know, we all have the ability and even resilience to create great change.
Especially when we can tap into our inner power, strength, and connection.
The problem is that connection and inner strength do not come from someone else, or something else.
Connection and strength do not come from having more financial security, a better home, a better job, or even trying to live the perfect life.
It comes from getting so calm, centered, and open-hearted within yourself, that you have the power and connection.
When You Are Soul Connected You Are Naturally Strong
When you are soul-connected it is much easier to build up your soul power.
You know your calling, you know what you can do each day to make that difference.
And you start tapping into and relying on your own inner resources, strength, and wisdom to be guided and led.
Than relying on other people’s fears, conditioning, distortions, and agendas.
7 Steps To Strength And Empowerment
How to stop feeling powerless and weak and start tapping into your inner strength and connection.
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1. Be Present:
Switch off the distractions and learn how to be in the moment.
2. STOP Leaking Energy:
Set healthy boundaries, stop giving away energy, and focus on the wrong things and wrong people ( like the wrong type of clients, those who choose to stay asleep)
Nature’s essences such as Essential Oils and Flower essences can be very helpful for moving and supporting us through anxiety and fears. So is inner child healing and inner child therapy.
5. Take Daily Steps:
Take small conscious daily steps that are empowering, that help us move through our fears.
6. Acknowledge how far you have come:
Acknowledging your daily achievements, your strengths, and the things you have worked through stops you from being a victim to your distorted thoughts, fears and limitations. Look back in situations in your life where you have found deep courage and strength.
7. Find Inspiration and Motivation:
Read, Listen, And Absorb Inspiring Words, Inspiring People, and Inspiring passions to ignite and fan your inner power, strength, and desire to be the change. Nourish your soul, Invest in spiritual or soul empowerment coaching, healing or inner child therapy to heal what is blocking you.
Becoming Your Own Hero And Heroine
These steps can help take your strength and courage to a brand new level. Supporting you stand strong with those around you to be the change, than being in fear and being part of the problem.
If you would like to access more of your inner power, strength, and courage at this time, check out the free recording of my session Awakening Your Hero Within .
Empowerment Quotes to help inspire, empower, and motivate you to live a more soul-aligned life and purpose. Inspirational thoughts and ideas for an empowered life.
Empowerment Quotes For Life
Empowering quotes for life
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” — E.E. Cummings
“Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is believing you’re worth the trip.” — Glenn Beck
“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — Aristotle
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”– Buddha
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Empowerment Quotes For Life Purpose And Soul Purpose
Empowering quotes to help you align with your life purpose and soul purpose.
“If you look to others for fulfilment, you will never be fulfilled. If your happiness depends on money, you will never be happy with yourself. Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the world belongs to you.” – Lao Tzu
“True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” – Helen Keller
“We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
Empowering Quotes For Business and Work
Empowerment Quotes for work and business.
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis
“There is nothing impossible to they who will try.”— Alexander the Great
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” — Malcolm S. Forbes
The gig economy is empowerment. This new business paradigm empowers individuals to better shape their own destiny and leverage their existing assets to their benefit. John McAfee
“In a truly free society, individuals are granted responsibility for themselves. Freedom necessitates that we learn how to provide for ourselves, contributing value in whatever form, to generate personal income. We then decide how we wish to spend or save earned income; freedom is the reward for fulfilling personal responsibilities.” ― Candace Owens
Self expression is the action of sharing one’s thoughts, feelings or ideas, through action, voice, the creative arts such as art, dance, music even innovation.
Problems With Authenticity And Self Expression
The problem today with authenticity and self expression. Is that many people today gets confused by narcistic attention seeking behaviour and authentic self expression.
Where the world is expected to bow down to other people’s narcissistic demands, gaslighting or ideology in away that threatens someone’s else’s authentic values and opinions. When in reality true authentic self expression, comes from the confidence of truly understanding and expressing ourself in a deep and objective way without the need or expectation for other people’s approval or recognition.
Another personality trait that can seriously get in the way of being truly authentic in your life and business is neuroticism. Healers, therapists and coaches who procrastinate a lot in their business and who suffer for imposter syndrome can suffer from have a high level of neuroticism.
At their core they often don’t really know, love or trust themself. Suffer from deep rooted fear and wounding.
What Is Narcissism?
Narcissism is a self–centered personality trait where they tend to be obsessive around one’s self at the expense of other people.
Lack Empathy
Lack Introspection
Blame Others For Their Mistakes or Misfortune
Constantly Gaslight their victims
Deny Errors and Mistakes
Highly Impulsive
Anger Easily and Hold Grudges
Enjoy Revelling In Other People’s Pain
What is Neuroticism?
Neuroticism is regarded as a core personality trait that relates to someone’s mental and emotional stability and inability to self-regulate, it is associated with dissatisfaction and distress.
Find It Difficult To Make And Sustain Relationships
In reality those who are neurotic struggle to be truly authentic due to fear what others may think.
Recent Studies Around Authenticity
There is a variety of types of research in relation to authenticity.
According to SPANE assessment, people who are more authentic are far happier and healthier.
” Realness is a core feature of Authenticity” Scienedirect.com demonstrates “realness as the relatively stable tendency to act on the outside the way one feels on the inside, without regard for proximal personal or social consequences.”
So even though we know being authentic is part of integrity in many areas of our life and business, In some causes authenticity can be simply just self serving especially when we do no take into account the consequences of what we share. Though one study suggests people who tend to be more authentic tend to get less angry in situations that are unfair.
Top Tips How To Be More Authentic
Know You Are Enough
The more you know and feel you are enough, the more you understand how important it is to be yourself, the easier it is to be truly you.
Know Yourself Deeply Enough To
Know yourself deeply enough that you can be authentic, being authentic is banned about today by many who don’t know themself at all. Truly being authentic is about letting go of who we think we need, should or have been conditioned to be. And learn to unlock more of who we truly are.
Live Your Life By Your Core Values
The more you know yourself the easier it is to to know and live by your values. In a spiritual business your core values are often your biggest soul client attractor.
Identify Your Shadows And Masks
The digger you deep into truly getting to know yourself, observe yourself the easier it is to see the shadows and the masks we hide behind and get entangled in. Archetype work is a powerful way to identify your most dominant shadow traits and masks.
Learn To Communicate As Honesty As You Can
Honest sincere communication from the heart, is one of the most powerful ways to be authentic in your day to day life.
Get More Creative, Find Different Ways To Express Yourself
Creativity is a healthy way to express yourself, your joy, pain and emotions in a healthy way for all concerned. The Creative arts such as creative writing or creative play, can be a powerful form of self-healing for releasing trauma, healing the inner child and identity issues holding you back from being truly authentic.
Archetypal and Inner Child Work
Archetypal and inner child work hand and hand is a powerful way to help one move into alignment with your true essence. Heal the deepest shadows and masks that are keeping you small, stuck or lost in someone else’s identity or beliefs.
4 Ways To Get More Soul Aligned In 2024 to become more strong and spiritually empowered in life and your soul aligned business.
Why being more soul aligned in your life, relationships and business will give you more strength and power in the year ahead to do what you are truly here to do. Some of the most common things that try to disconnect us from our heart and soul.
Why Soul Alignment Is So Important In 2024
When an individual awakens both spiritually and societal, they go through a variety of emotions and different stages.
In many ways like the different stages of grief, there is some stages that are extremely challenging, stages we get stuck and struggle to get past, some stages with the right support and healing we move through with more compassion, strength and wisdom.
If we try to deny any of those stages, suppress our emotional wounding it eventually catches up on us.
Anyone who has been awakened at a societal level of the last few years, know’s how much cognitive dissonance there has been on a massive scale. How wide and deep psychological manipulation, and gas lighting has become. How much of what we see on TV, Media, Radio and Social Media is actually inverted,
Even though a large population of the world are waking up. So many people are stuck in aspects of the trauma response, the fight or flight response.
Anxiety levels and mental health issues have shot up dramatically. Mental health problems are crippling children and the younger generations.
For so longs the human population has become so disconnected from their own power, their own inner navigation system, they are really struggling to discern what is truth, fact and fiction, what is morally right or distorted. Even though many of the illusions are beginning to be unveiled and broken.
Good Soul Alignment Helps Guide Us
Good soul-alignment can help us navigate through this chaos and deception with better spiritual discernment.
Good soul-alignment helps us stay spiritually empowered, not as easily hi-jacked by psychological manipulation.
Great Soul-alignment puts us in the right place at the right time, attracts all sorts of synchronicities.
It helps us trust in the bigger plan, gives us so much more strength and courage to take the road less travelled, the journey our soul is guiding us to take.
So many way showers have led the way for decades, even more through the last decade with such strength, power, love and compassion by following their heart and soul.
By leading by example, by having the courage to stand up at great personal loss for themself.
By also having compassion for those for so many reasons felt they have no choice than to be caught up in this game.
Soul Aligned In Business
The more soul-aligned we can all become in our life and business, the more we can focus on creating solutions, being active participants of the change that is needed in this world today.
The more disconnected we are, the more likely we are to keep going around in circles with our old trauma, conditioning and polarity. Getting more soul-aligned takes patience and time we are all a work in progress.
4 Ways To Get Soul Aligned
Build A Deep Connection With Your Heart and Soul :
Soul aligned in business means getting soul deep. The deeper you can connect with yourself at a heart and soul level, the easier it is to be guided at a soul level. You are also less likely to be energetically hijacked by other things that are mere distractions, illusions or not of the highest light, truth or for the greatest good of all concerned.
I teach a variety of spiritual tools to help my clients and students get more soul-aligned, though a great start is meditation and heart-based prayers. And doing what fills your heart so much love, that you would do it for free every single day, that is what heart and soul-aligned really means.
Identify Your Business’s Top Values:
Getting soul aligned as an entrepreneur involves getting really aligned with your and your brands core values. This is one of the most powerful ways to build a really strong soul connection with your audience and best way to attract our soul clients. Knowing and sharing your brand’s top values with your audience is a powerful way to build deeper connection and trust. More than ever people want to buy from authentic brands, with strong integrity, who can deliver on their implications and promises.
Create Healthier Boundaries
Healthy boundaries from that what is not aligned with your purpose and mission is so important. One of the biggest ways I have started to create more healthier boundaries is only to work with certain clients who have similar core values than myself. And to do things on a daily basis to keep my energy strong and protected enough from other energetic interferences designed to take me off my path. Spend less time on certain social media platforms and spending more time with those who are the foundations of creating the new earth. And also let go of things in my business that is leaking energy or no longer aligned.
Heal Your Biggest Wounding:
Healing your biggest wounds in your life will help you make big shifts in creating a more soul-aligned business. Our wounding and trauma disconnects us from our true spiritual essence and spiritual power. The more we can heal, the more soul-aligned we can become. We are all a work in progress, so no matter if someone has been working on themself 10, 20, 30 years there is always more that we can let go of, more of our soul essence and soul gifts to unlock.
Identifying your inner child wounds and dominant archetypal traits that are sabotaging your life and business is one of the most powerful things you can do. Knowing your biggest sabotaging behaviours and shadow traits, gives you something very specific to focus on the year ahead. One powerful way you can identify some of the shadows in your spiritual business is by identifying your brands most dominant archetype. Take my Spiritual Brand Quiz To Find Out.
Survival Archetypal Traits That STOP Us Getting Soul Aligned
Inner Child Shadows
Both the wounded inner child and orphan child can keep us stuck in childish, immature behaviours that prevent us growing up spiritually, mentally and emotionally. A child that never faces the dark, always hides away or stays fearful of the dark. A child that steps through the dark, accesses their own light, courage and power. For example the shadow orphan child can bring to their business and work, the energy and behaviour of being an outsider. They often come to situations with either a certain aloofness, fear or even judgement, seeking from others what they need to give themself.
The eternal child doesn’t want to take self-responsibility for their action or inaction, their tantrums or stubbornness. Like an impatient child they want the rewards but are not always willing to make the necessary investment, whether that be time, financial, mental, emotional or even physical.
How The Victim and Saboteur Archetype Can Sabotage Your Success
The shadow aspect of the victim archetype likes to keep us small, powerless, dependant on others. In it’s light form the victim archetype helps us become more aware, compassionate and enduring. In its dark aspect it keeps us in fear, stuck in the past or ruminating about the future. It is good at convincing us someone or something is more powerful, stronger, than us. The more soul-aligned we all become, the more we break-free from the shackles of victimhood.
What areas on your life and business are you a victim and what areas of your life and business are you the hero?
The Saboteur Archetype will continue to sabotage your life and success until you face those demons. It shows up as those addictions and unhealthy behaviours, from everything to unhealthy food, to procrastination, poor time management, not showing up, not keeping your commitments or promises. Like the shadow aspects of the victim, the saboteur archetype in its shadow form is scared of its power and where that power will lead.
How The Prostitute Archetype Can Sabotage Your Values
The shadow traits of the prostitute archetype is one of the strongest at sabotaging our values and integrity. Where one literally sells their soul, their ethics and values just to make money, gain a title, get more likes, views or followers. It is what goes behind doors, what you are not 100% truthful about, what you do just to gain what you want in life or business. From copying someone else’s content to being dishonest about your experience or results based on low self-worth and lack of belief in one’s self.
Getting More Soul Aligned In Business And Life is a journey, not a race.
Getting soul-aligned in your business takes time, it takes patience and a lot of grace.
Ready to get more soul-aligned in your life and business with one to one support with Eileen CLICK HERE
Or check out her Powerful Meditation and Soul Connection Self-Study Course that teaches you powerful tools to get more soul-aligned in your daily life.
