Because of the Childhood Emotional Neglect I grew up with, along with an infant medical trauma, I had learned quite early on to wall off my feelings. I felt the Lord had told me once, “You have to feel it so we can heal it.”

But honestly, I didn’t quite know how to feel all those suppressed feelings without getting stuck in them.

The therapist clarified the process with a simple analogy.

Picture two fireplaces.

In Fireplace #1, you put some kindling in, maybe a log. You light it, and close the fireplace door. Then you just sit with it. The fire burns, and eventually goes out. (You let the feeling wash over you, and eventually it ebbs away. That’s how feelings work—if you allow yourself to just feel them.)

Fireplace #2 starts with the same process: kindling, log, start the fire, shut the door. But this time, you keep opening the door to put on a new log. Thus the fire keeps on burning.

And what is the “log” you’re keeping the fire burning with? Your beliefs! What you have made the incident to mean.

When you start to feel the feelings, you go into the “story,” usually punctuated by “never” and/or “always” or that kind of sentiment.

Maybe there’s a “therefore’ in there, too.

As in, when a memory comes up where you did not feel loved, you not only feel the sadness of that, but you start to think, “They never loved me. They always ignored my feelings. Therefore I must be unlovable. I have to prove my worth.” Etc.

This is what you can use a Healing Code for: the beliefs that are fueling the fire of negative feelings and keeping you stuck in them.

Another thing that’s helping me work through some early traumas is the practice of “that was then, this is now,” or holding “both/and.” Growing up, nobody seemed to care about my needs. You sit with that for a while, feel the sadness and loneliness of it. But now, I have a husband and children who love me. Now I have friends. Life is good NOW.

Living fully in the present is my ongoing goal. I used to always try to plan and envision the near future; it was a strategy that served me well as a child, but now it’s robbing my joy. It’s true that all we really have is the present. The past is gone, and the future is not yet.

For me, I entrust the future into God’s hands, as He knows it and goes before me into it: “The Lord himself goes before you, and is with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Do not be discouraged, do not be afraid.” (Deuteronomy 31:8)

“Dear Diane,

“You know, the photo of Jesus you printed [on your Immanuel Connection page] changed everything [for] me! 

“I saved the image to my smartphone. 

“How can something so simple make such a big difference?

“In my mind, Jesus was always either a tortured face or an angry face with me. That’s how the Catholic Church taught me Jesus.

“Today, thanks to you, I discovered the real Jesus. What a relief!

“Thank you so much.” –Eduardo Homem

I am so glad for you, Eduardo! Jesus wants us to know who He really is, not who our distorted teachings and experiences made Him out to be.

For anyone who wants to begin to know and experience the true Jesus who is the Source of all healing, I encourage you to check out the Immanuel Connection call. 

Foundational memories are usually from early childhood, often unconscious, yet unhealed they have the power to dramatically affect our whole life.

Foundational and pivotal memories are the place to concentrate on healing, once the more obvious and acute issues or memories are healed.

What I want to emphasize now is the fact that we often heal in layers, especially with foundational and pivotal memories.

As an example, I shared about my infant hospital experience, when I had major surgery when I was only a week old, and was in the hospital for the first 7 or 8 months of my life. Which at that time, was my whole life thus far.

I’d been working on healing that memory off and on ever since I started doing The Healing Codes in 2007.

And do you know, it’s only now, 18 years later, that a new aspect of that experience came up. It was only ready to heal after I’d done 18 years of healing work on all sorts of heart issues.

I mentioned the details in my Aug.17, 2025 newsletter, but I’m not posting it on my blog because I realized that it may be too intense for other people to hear. 

The takeaway is that we heal in layers, and—this is important and reassuring—we only become aware of something if our heart knows we’re ready to heal it.

When I discovered, quite by accident, the new truth about my hospital experience, it was not as shocking as it might have been, because of all the healing work I’d done.

And, I must add, God has been amazing in His tenderness in providing a number of Immanuel Connection experiences in which He showed me exactly what happened (on the spiritual plane) in those weeks, how He was there and what He did and how He did it.

People occasionally ask me, “Do I need to keep doing The Healing Codes once I’ve healed my issue?” The answer is yes, if you want to experience ever deeper healing. You don’t know what heart issues remain hidden, or how wonderful life will be once you heal certain memories that may only be ready to come up after doing Healing Codes regularly for some time. (You can read a more detailed answer here.)

If you’re committed to healing, realize it’s a healing journey. A lifelong journey, if you’re willing.

We may not always even know what the destination (though some of us are assured of our final destination), but the journey is well worth embarking on. Let God and your Heart guide you (and know this: it will often use your body to give you clues).

May you feel guided and held every step of the way.

Defining moments come suddenly, unexpectedly. They divert the course you were on. They require attention, awareness, and reflection.

And they demand change.

I won’t get into all the personal defining moments, except to say that they were several, and some were pleasant, some not at all pleasant. I share a couple of them below.

Both the collective and personal defining moments sparked tremendous grief. And, also, oddly, a sense of hope.

As you might have guessed, the collective grief I refer to has to do with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, whom I didn’t follow much but am familiar with.

From those who knew him, even if they disagreed with him, you get the picture of someone who spoke about faith, conservative values, and whose passion was that there would be vigorous debate and freedom of speech. 

He was committed to encouraging a generation of young people to really think, and he was respectful and courteous to those he disagreed with. In fact, he told those who disagreed with him to get to the head of the line to interact with him on his campus debate tours. 

When I first heard the news of the shooting on Wednesday, the first words that came to me were, “And so it begins.” I do not know where that came from or what it means.

I also remembered the parable found in the Gospel of John (John 12:24), where Jesus explains that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

When I saw the video Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika, released just two days after his murder, I was moved to tears and wondered if—and prayed that—this seemingly senseless death would be the seed from which God would bring some good. “Much fruit.”

One of the sources of grief is not only the fact that a talented, good man and father of two young children was gunned down in cold blood, but the media insinuations by some that “he had it coming.”

To anyone who feels that way, I would ask, as Charlie might, “Where is that coming from? Did you actually view any of the videos of his interactions with those who disagreed with him? Or are you going by what people said about him?”

Whenever I hear someone being vilified, I always go back to the source and look at/listen to what the person actually said. Often words are taken out of context and spun along the lines of a person’s ideology. When they are spun with hate mixed in, I immediately know it’s evil.

I was grieving over all this as I drove to my dentist’s office, who graciously agreed to see me for a very strange dental emergency that arose last night. Suddenly in the car, I felt the presence of Jesus. His presence brought a peace I rarely ever feel, not even in prayer or church.

I asked him, “Why are you so peaceful? Here I am, feeling so sorrowful, and you come with peace?”

I felt him smile gently and confidently, and say, “I’m peaceful because I know what I’ve done [I knew he was referring to the cross and his resurrection], and what I am doing.”

He added, “And I give you my peace.” (See John 14:17.) 

One of the other personal defining moments from this week was a therapy session in which I learned how to hold both the troubling emotions and the strengthening emotions and truths together. 

Both the grief and the hope are true and valid. We need to hold them together, because that’s the world we live in. There is evil, and we need to face that. 

There is also hope.

My hope is in what Jesus told me today: that he conquered sin (evil) on the cross, and that he is now in the process of undoing that evil as he spreads his light in this world, largely through the believers in which he lives by the Holy Spirit, to “expose and thwart evil, reveal truth, and guide our feet in the paths of peace.”

You and I can be part of that light. Jesus said we who follow him are the light of the world. Charlie Kirk unabashedly shone that light brightly. He knew there could be a terrible cost. He pressed on anyway.

We too can and must be—must be—lights that push back the darkness. 

That is why every single day I pray the prayer below that every week I include in my Healing Heart Issues Digest newsletter. 

I hope you will too. 

Let this be the defining moment when we each commit to the true Light, and to being clear reflections of that Light. 

It always seemed stupid to me to try to keep up and fit in with all the latest trends. Not only stupid, but intuitively I knew it would be impossible. A never-ending race to keep up.

Yet, in some things I tend to be an “early adopter.” When something makes sense to me, I look into it, such as when I first heard about The Healing Codes and the HOLOS device. Though they didn’t have any “clinical trials” behind them at the time, I figured they were worth checking out. And I’ve benefited greatly from these and other “out there” things I’ve tried.

However, I’m not one to upgrade right away to the latest whatever, especially if it’s technology.

Hence, I keep my cell phone until it becomes almost unusable (I still have an iphone 8-plus), and I have Windows 10 on my computer. Alas, I need to actually buy a new computer since Windows 10 won’t be supported after October, and my computer won’t be able to run the new operating system.

So these are forced updates. But I’m realizing periodic updates are also important for one’s life as a whole.

Life is always evolving, and sometimes it can feel like it’s carrying you along until suddenly, you realize you need some “updating.” For me these days, it’s like trying to see if my old computer will take the updated software.

It will not. It looks like I need a whole new “operating system”: a whole new set of priorities and a new mindset to meet current challenges I’ve never faced before.

As I think of updating my phone, computer (and life), I’m reminded that a first good step is to “edit” it.

When my phone informed me that I couldn’t upload some photos because I didn’t have enough space, I took a deep breath and deleted a bunch of Merlin app bird recordings and other recordings, as well as photos. I had to face the hard truth that I probably never will get back to those recordings. Nor would I need certain photos. I also “offloaded” a bunch of apps I hardly use.

What about you? Is it time to step back and “update” your life? Do you need a whole new “operating system,” or do you just need to “edit” a few things? 

Here is a blog post I wrote awhile ago about “editing your life” that I just reread and found helpful at this time. Perhaps you will as well. 

^{“Our inner child, full of wonder, stays with us no matter how old we get.}

“There’s a part of me that’s still ten and a half. There’s another part of me that’s 15. That part of you stays alive.

“Who we are changes over time—but some things stay the same.”

—Sari Botton interview

Did you read a lot as a child? Do you have favorite books that somehow shaped you?

I have begun to reread some of my favorite childhood books. Books that I absolutely loved as a child, though then perhaps I didn’t know quite why.

Revisiting them now is an interesting exercise in reconnecting with my younger selves, from the perspective of my old(er) self.

I’m reading fiction, though as a child I also read a lot of nonfiction. I don’t remember the nonfiction, but I do remember the novels.

Photo by Alexandra

When I began reading books as a child, I fell in love with words. That paved the way to my major in college, and my career as a writer, author, editor. Words are my play, my music, my expression and gifts to the world.

Yet, for many years more recently, I didn’t read even one novel.

I’m not sure why I gave up reading for pleasure, though I do remember when. The last novel I read, before I recently discovered the Libby app and audiobooks, was in 2016. Imagine that—me, a literature major in college, not reading even one novel for 9 years!

That was the year life got really crazy, and I put away that pleasure as duty called me to deal with the deaths of people and pets, settling two messy estates, basement floods, mold remediation, health issues in myself and others, losing health insurance, estrangement of family members, a broken foot, major surgery, and caregiving.

Now that I’ve rediscovered the library app and free audiobooks (the only way I can “read” these days), I’ve read 4 novels in as many weeks as I go about my tasks of cooking, cleaning, laundry, doing my physical therapy exercises, and simple decluttering,. (The more intense kind cannot be done multi-tasking.)

As I read these resurrected novels, it’s like giving voice to these younger selves. I’ve found myself weeping at times, as at last I understand why certain novels touched me so. How they validated my deepest feelings, which were not validated in any other way. How they showed me a larger life than the rather small, constricted life reflected in my family and neighborhood.

I believe books saved me from a sad and lonely childhood. They taught me more about life than my family ever did. I believe they also developed my natural empathy. There’s nothing like relating to characters in a novel, with the many viewpoints and perspectives, to help you develop empathy for real people. One of the most important and lasting lessons from A Peaceable Kingdom was that we almost never know the full story behind a person’s behavior, and if we did know the full story, we’d not judge them so. Story can do that for you.

Fiction helped me to feel. I grew up with Childhood Emotional Neglect, and yet as a highly sensitive person, feelings were my first language. Imagine being shamed for “speaking” this language. When I read books like Anne of Green Gables (my current novel I’m rereading), I think it must have helped me see both the range of emotions one can feel and how to express them (Anne), and what happens to a person who has repressed them all her life (Marilla). A Little Princess helped me to see that one can keep a core sense of dignity and self even in the face of others’ indifference and cruelty.

Both books also validated that having an intense imagination, which I shared, was a strength, not a weakness. I had to smile when I read in Anne of Green Gables, her question to Marilla: “Do you ever imagine things?” I had asked the same question of my mother once when I was about 7. Both woman said no. I shared Anne’s bewilderment as to how one could get through life without imagining things.

I also just reread some of the books that were meaningful to me as an adult. And I read a totally new book, a contemporary novel that made me want to start writing letters to everyone I know (The Correspondent by Virginia Evans). Amazon describes it as “an intimate novel about the transformative power of the written word and the beauty of slowing down to reconnect with the people we love.” For me, it combined the theme of my whole life–the love of words–and the current tasks before me in my “wisdom years.”

It was an added delight to text a friend, with whom I’ve recently reconnected after years of drifting away, and find out she too was revisiting her favorite books, and just finished Anne of Green Gables and plans on continuing the series, as I am.

What books did you love as a child? What did they do for you? Have you gone back to reread any of them? What was that like? I’d love to know! Post a comment on the blog to share with others as well.

Every year, God reminds me of the exact date. I would forget otherwise. It wasn’t important to anyone else.

But Jesus reminds me it’s very important to Him.

So, it was 50-plus years ago, on a steamy August night, apparently on the 2^nd, that I was feeling very low. I was 15 years old. Depressed, I now realize. All this confusion, all this loneliness, all these feelings, no one to talk to, no one who understood.

I tried talking to my older brother. What a desperate move that was. He was the last person in the world who would understand his highly sensitive sister. He was just as practiced as I was in suppressing feelings. I don’t think I ever had an important conversation with him in my life, then or after.

I don’t remember what was going on with my friends, but there was a feeling of being forsaken. I didn’t know what to do with myself.

So I walked up the street and sat on the curb in the steamy Connecticut night. Just sat there.

And then something happened. Suddenly I thought about Jesus.

I had a friend at that time, dear Debbie Drury (now Nelson), who was always telling me about Jesus. I thought she was a freak. But to be quite honest, she had a joy I ached for. Though I ridiculed her, and even ripped up one of those “God has a wonderful plan for your life” tracts in front of her, deep down I wished I had that joy.

Sitting on that curb on that lonely night, I remembered a dream I’d had.

In the dream I was with my family, camping. It was night, and I was lost in the woods. I wandered around until I saw a wooden bench, and a light, like a street light, in a clearing. (How symbolic dreams are!) Someone was sitting on the bench. A man.

Somehow I felt he was safe. He beckoned to me to sit beside him, and asked what was on my mind. I found myself pouring out my heart to him.

He listened, nodding, seeming as if he totally understood me. Then he got up, I got up, and he hugged me.

Oh, the peace I felt in that embrace! Oh, my, I’ve never felt such peace since, except for another similar dream I had decades later.

I longed for that peace. I searched for that peace since the dream. I knew it would only come from a relationship. In my teenage immature foolishness, I thought it would come from a boyfriend or husband someday.

But sitting on that curb that August 2 night, it suddenly all came together. The relationship I ached for was with the Lord of Life and Love, and He was waiting for me. He was there, sitting on the curb next to me, as He was in the dream on that wooden bench in the woods.

And I understood it all, all that Debbie had told me, and I opened the door of my heart, and asked Him in.

Life has never been the same since.

Oh, I’m still healing from my childhood traumas. But I have to tell you: God has been healing me all along, at a pace He knows is doable for me.

I’ve written before about how, when you hit the 60s or even before, the strategies you’ve used to cope seem to suddenly stop working. Perhaps that’s because by then, you may have accumulated enough resilience to face those traumas you’ve pushed down all your life.

So for the past several years, God has gently led me to understand more and more about the traumas of my early life, the patterns that served well then but are a detriment now, and what to do about them.

He had led me to The Healing Codes at just the right time. Those prior years of healing helped me when I had to settle my mother’s estate and Pandora’s box was opened. The family dynamics were so clear.

Against that backdrop, the hand of grace that had led me in different directions stood out in bold relief.

Grace had enabled me to make different choices than other family members. My life looks drastically different than it would have had I not opened the door to Love all those decades ago. You have only to look at my other family members’ lives, who did not turn to grace but followed the predictable paths of unhealed trauma results, to know that “’twas grace that led me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”

I want to honor that grace, and to witness to the One who asked me to write this, the One relationship that has always been the model of what relationships can and should be.

Because of Him, I was able to marry a good man with whom I’ve lived for 45 years; rear two wonderful children who, despite the deficits of our parenting, are leading happy, stable, productive lives.

I’m part of a few wonderful communities, I’ve had a fulfilling career with different twists and turns, and now I’m in my wisdom years, facing a new journey with its unique challenges.

I know I’m not alone on that path, and that makes all the difference.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

Have you heard His knock? Have you ever opened the door? Are you dining with him every day?

If you have, and you would like to deepen that relationship with Immanuel, I invite you to check out the Immanuel Connection call. We meet on the first Tuesday of the month, virtually,  at 11:30 a.m. Central time. If that time doesn’t suit you, email me (diane at healingcodescoaching.com) and we’ll see what we can do. There is a recording, but the live call is really where the action is.

I won’t bore you with the details. It involved an internet provider, a modem, cell phones, an app that didn’t work, IA which was absolutely worthless, and a tech person who helped me solve a problem (which was only a problem of their making, not mine, but which I needed them to fix), who then suddenly transformed, in the blink of an eye, into a salesman trying to sell me a new phone and service. (Do these corporations train ALL their staff to lure you into their “special deals, only available through me, RIGHT NOW”?)

It took an hour and a half, half of the time taken with the techie-turned-salesman trying to sell me on the deal. It will take me more time to drive to the store to return the unwanted equipment.

Their offer sounded good, but I knew it would involve even more time dealing with unexpected wrinkles and hassles that, despite their promises of a seamless transition, would inevitably surface.

These days, I value peace more than saving money. The experience is just one of the kind of hassles all of us deal with, often, at least with me, on a weekly and sometimes daily basis. Such is life in a technological world, where corporations rule and the increasing use of AI is squeezing out our humanity.

I resist all this, very consciously, but sometimes it feels like a losing battle. How do you navigate the modern world with its insistence that you use their app to do business with them, when the app doesn’t work unless you spend a couple of grand to upgrade your phone so you can run the app? I personally don’t like to use my phone for online things; the screen is too small, my fingers too fat or something.

What I realized with today’s experience was that I need to fiercely guard my energy, and not get sucked into being nice. For example, after my 90-minute time suck that got me nowhere, I got a text message asking me to rate the call. I wanted to help the techie who did in fact help me (though I shouldn’t have needed the help in the first place), but I didn’t want to give this whole thing any more of my precious time and energy. So I tamped down the temptation to be “nice” (probably to a chatbot), and turned my attention elsewhere.

On balance, I want to report something very uplifting. I recently visited my local public library, and they turned me on to Libby, the library app through which one can borrow books, even audio books. The librarian told me how to use the app. As usual, the best way to do it is through the app on the phone. “The computer often is glitchy.” Glitchy it was, so I sighed and went with the app, which did work.

I put a hold on a fiction audiobook I’ve been wanting to reread. I was #16 on the hold list. How long will it take for me to get that book? I wondered.

Somehow, two days later, I got a notice saying the audiobook was in. I called the librarian about something else, and mentioned how surprised I was to get the book so soon. She said, “I saw that you wanted it, so I ordered it for you.”

Ah, kindness and humanity still exist, at least in little Midwestern towns like mine. I’ll take it!

As much as possible, I want to also give it. I hope to God kindness and goodness will never be eclipsed by the impersonal nature of technology. As much as possible, I hope to combat it by being as kind as I can be.

To humans, that is. The chatbots I’ll give the cold shoulder to. Because no matter how human they may seem (and they are terribly polite), they are not human, and I owe them nothing. Combined with human intelligence and kindness, technology can be wonderful, as with the librarian and the Libby app.

But chatbots alone, and the companies that rely solely on them, are energy vampires in disguise. Let’s not be fooled.

If this resonates, you might also be interested in reading Part Five of my Hidden Stressors blog series and/or “What is Goovil to You?”, both of which discuss technology and how to tame it.

Q: I have a question concerning doing the Healing Code, particularly about the prayer of intention: Do we say this prayer every time before doing the code, or say it just once?

For example, if I have a complicated health problem, working on it with the Healing Code might take months every day. Would it be enough to say this prayer just once? I would like to do it correctly.

I also cannot find any similar feeling or memory from my past, so I do the code without it.

Thank you very much for your time creating these emails, they are very inspiring!!

Have a great day!

–Michaela Chrdlova, Czech Republic

My answer:

It’s best to say the prayer of intention every time you do a Healing Code. Setting your intention tells your heart what to focus on. You don’t have to dwell on it or relive it, just note the feeling, belief, or memory.

As for the memory (or lack thereof), it is OK not to include it if nothing comes to mind. However, it can be quite helpful to connect with the feeling (e.g. how you feel about your health condition and how complicated it is), and then see if you can tune in to a sensation in your body that comes up with that feeling.

Connecting with the body in this way may help you connect with earlier, unconscious memories. Note that this may take some practice. If you have trauma in your life (and lack of memories can be a big clue that you have, often from a very young age), it’s common to disconnect from the body. Just get curious and nonjudgmental about any sensation that comes up. When the heart perceives it’s safe to connect with the body, you can then feel the sensations. Be patient and gentle with yourself.

Next, if you can feel any sensations, ask yourself when you might have felt that sensation before. Again, nothing may come up. Or, a memory or perhaps a period of your life may come to mind. Perhaps it’s a vague sense that something happened when you were two. Don’t question or analyze it. If anything comes up, even if you don’t understand it, put it in the prayer of intention.

Doing the Healing Code this way, you may come up with different feelings surrounding your physical issue each time you do the code. That’s another reason to include the prayer of intention each time. Your heart will reveal and unravel what you are ready to heal as you go. There is tremendous intelligence in the body. As we learn to tap into it, healing is enhanced and sped up.

Here is a sample prayer of intention:

Heavenly Father, please find, open and heal the source of any disease or dysfunction in my spirit, soul and body [can add, “especially ____” and name the physical issue(s)], with any connection to [insert heart issue, i.e. negative feeling, belief, harmful action such as unforgiveness), from [insert any memory if you have any, or just say “the source memory”]. Please restore everything to your original, intended design by replacing all negatives with your love, life, and light. Please also magnify the effectiveness of this healing to the maximum level for my highest good, at an optional pace. Thank you, Lord, for your willingness and ability to do all these things.

This prayer may be a little wordy, but every word is actually very intentional and important, at least in my opinion and experience. Without going into the weeds about quantum physics, the idea is that when we focus our attention on something, it tends to manifest. (I say “tends” because everything is under the sovereign will of God. He may have something even better for you, beyond all you can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20-21)).

Please don’t be discouraged about needing to do the Healing Code every day. It took years to develop your issues. It won’t likely take that long to heal them, but it does take time and most of all, CONSISTENCY. Keep at it even if you don’t see results for a while. Much healing goes on below the surface.

The Healing Code is more like taking Vitamin C every day to maintain good health than an antibiotic you take for a few days to knock out an infection. Again, consistency is the key. Find a good time in the day when you can set aside at least 6 minutes, twice a day, to do the Healing Code.

It should be a pleasant experience, for when you do the pointing you want to be focused on something very positive: a peaceful memory, place, or Truth Focus Statement you resonate with. Being in such a positive mental state sends positive energy signals through your fingers to the healing centers (the code positions), which work to cancel out the negative energy of the thing you’re trying to heal. This frees energy in the body to get to work on healing what it in its wisdom knows needs to be healed next.

I hope this helps you get more out of the Healing Code for your issue. And remember: the Healing Code only addresses the “heart issues,” not physical issues directly. As such, it is no substitute for medical care, but rather and adjunct that addresses the true source of any issue, whether it manifests emotionally, relationally, spiritually, or physically. The physical healing often, though not always, comes last. It all depends on how many underlying heart issues need to be addressed, which is why consistency is so key.

Related Articles:

• Healing Many Symptoms at Once

• Pivotal Memories

• How Heart Issues are Like Bamboo

Understanding that bodily symptoms can be clues to the underlying emotional issues that are the real cause of the physical problems has helped me pinpoint and heal the true source in a much more efficient way.

Recently, I woke with unexplained, sudden heel pain. Knowing what I know about how symptoms can actually be metaphoric clues to the heart issues, I prayed for wisdom about this symptom. The phrase “dragging your heels” came to mind.

Was there any area of my life in which I was “dragging my heels”?

Yes, in fact there was!

I started addressing that with Healing Codes and my other tools I’ve developed. I also started wearing some insoles, at the suggestion of a friend.

Within three days, the pain was just about gone.

It came back once, and I continued to work on the “dragging my heels” issue. Again, within three days the pain was gone, without doing much else except keep wearing the insoles.

Another example. For several years, I have had headaches that came and went, sharp pains in various places in my head. I did see a doctor and have an MRI of my brain, just to rule out anything serious.

I again prayed for wisdom as to what this symptom might mean. What I got was that I was “too much in my head.”

In fact, that was true. As I’ve been seeking healing for my complex trauma from childhood, I’ve learned that the “bottom up” approach works much better for trauma than the typical “top down” approaches like talk therapy or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. With complex trauma, what works best is somatic therapy, where you learn to signal safety to the body, because that’s where the trauma is stored. Dr. Gabor Maté says trauma is not what happened, it’s what the body stored in your nervous system from what happened.

So the nervous system is the real target for healing. The “language” of the nervous system is sensation. Learning to feel safe in the body happens when you can signal safety through bodily sensations.

I had learned to escape the trauma by cutting off my awareness of my body and living in my head.

Since I’ve been doing somatic exercises, mostly through the Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) from Dr. Elizabeth Stanley, the headaches have largely been healed! (For a wonderful explanation of how the nervous system and MMFT work, go here for an interview Elizabeth Stanley did with Tami Simon from Sounds True.)

I believe The Healing Codes somehow calm the nervous system, possibly by activating the vagus nerve, which is one of the most important nerves in your body. It helps your brain and body stay in touch—especially your gut, heart, and lungs. It plays a big role in calming the nervous system, supporting digestion, and helping you feel safe and balanced. When your vagus nerve is strong and working well (called ‘good vagal tone’), your body can heal better, stress less, and stay more in balance. You can support your vagus nerve through things such as deep breathing, humming, gentle movement, feeling connected with others.

I believe The Healing Codes also support the vagus nerve, in a very efficient and pleasant way. 

Another thing The Healing Codes do is replace the negative feeling/belief/memory (which you target briefly in the prayer of intention), with something positive, which may well be another way you “signal safety” to the nervous system. For someone like me with a long habit of suppressing emotions, this balance has proved very effective.

So I combine all these things—Healing Codes, prayer, somatic exercises, chiropractic, and physical therapy—in a multi-pronged approach to heal what needs to be healed.

If I start with prayer and what my body is trying to tell me, the process goes much faster. I believe the body and spirit are connected on a level that bypasses the conscious mind, and tapping into this wisdom can lead to breakthroughs in healing. Once you are aware of what the body-spirit’s wisdom is telling you, you can take conscious steps to speed the healing process of anything, whether it’s a physical, emotional, relational or even vocational issue.

Because heart issues are at the root of all issues in life. Always, always ask yourself about heart issues. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23).

Use this interrelated feedback system to help yourself identify your true issues, and heal them at the source. Then you’ll feel better physically AND emotionally.

And if you need any  help with this process, feel free to email me for current options on how to heal at this heart level. 

Related articles:

• Illness as Metaphor: How to “Read” Your Heart

• What Is Your Body Trying to Tell You about Your Heart?

• Healing “The Story of Your Life”

• What Your Body Knows