“Did you know that most of our mindsets and perspectives on life are en-grained by the time we are 6-years-old? It’s true. While in our formative years we are like little sponges, we take in EVERYTHING. Unlike adults, we don’t have filters or boundaries that protect us from situations or people that can hurt us mentally or emotionally. As we grow older, because we were not able to release these fears, pains, or phobias, we learn coping mechanisms. These pains never really went away, we just learned great ways to bury them or hide them away. However, all we need is the right trigger and those fears and toxic emotions come flooding back with a vengeance. 

I’m sure you know people who just seem angry all the time. In fact, one of my fourth grade students is like that. She is ALWAYS angry and getting in confrontations about something. Do you think that behavior is going to go away when she is an adult? No, not unless she learns how to release it in a healthy way that doesn’t hurt others. Learning how to release inner pains is imperative to our spiritual growth and personal development. We really can’t grow beyond our unconscious feelings about life, ourselves, and others when we are wounded. We are not free to explore, take risks, and be vulnerable. Instead people with inner pains tend to protect themselves at all costs. They won’t let others (even God) really in, but in the end they are hurting themselves and can end up lonely and full of despair.