We all suffer from at least four of the five wounds of the soul

The aim of this article is to offer a mini refresher course to all those who learned what the wounds of the soul are by reading my book Heal Your Wounds and Find Your True Self. For those who don't know what they are, they are REJECTION, ABANDONMENT, HUMILIATION, BETRAYAL and INJUSTICE.

Each of us is born with these wounds since their healing is part of our life plan.Therefore, every problem we experience, in any area whatsoever, is always linked to a wound that causes us suffering. The degree of our physical and psychological suffering is an indication of how deep our wound is.

Quite often, people tell me they have only one wound left to heal. In reality, these people areletting themselves be deluded by their ego. I can make this statement because I have been working with wounds for twenty years and, honestly, I don't know anyone, myself included, who has only one wound. Certainly, to the extent

that our ego diminishes, that is to say, to the extent that we free ourselves from our non-beneficial beliefs, our wounds diminish. However, it is almost impossible to heal them all in the course of a single lifetime because we have had them for thousands of years.

Sometimes certain situations are more painful than others. This can result in one wound becoming more active than another at a specific time in our life, or even two wounds being activated at the same time. This doesn't mean that the other wounds are healed. It is important here to remember that we feel our wounds more when they are activated by others, just as a physical wound is more painful when someone else touches it. To illustrate better what I mean, let's take the example of a woman who has just been let go from her job. She experiences rejection and possibly injustice in the face of this situation. She may suffer from it so much that it makes her forget her other wounds. It is like having a bad migraine. For a period of time, that migraine can make you forget you have a back ache.

But why do our wounds hurt so much? Simply because we didn't know, until now, how to heal them. Let's remember also that it is never another person who is hurting us, but rather our own perception of the incident in question. We perceive events through our filters - our wounds - when we suffer. When we allow our beliefs to take hold of us and convince us, we hurt ourselves since each of our beliefs is linked to one of the five wounds.

The only wound that does not apply to everyone is the wound of humiliation. Only your body can tell you if you have this wound or not - which doesn't mean that you never feel humiliated if you don't have it. A situation that you find humiliating could be related to another wound. Let's take the example of a man who knocks over his cup of coffee during an important business meeting, spilling the coffee onto his white shirt. He feels humiliated, but it is possible that this situation activates, rather, his wound of injustice if he is afraid of being judged by others for his appearance, afraid that his clumsy gesture will affect his reputation as Mr. Perfect who is always well dressed. If, on the other hand, he suffers from the wound of humiliation, he will say to himself, "I look like such an ass! Why do I make things like this happen to me all the time?" He might even say it to others to make them laugh, which helps him hide his wound. The person suffering from injustice will try, rather, to remove the stain as quickly as possible or borrow a shirt from someone else. Each wound triggers different emotions and reactions.

In summary, we must not get hung up on the words. You can find a situation unjust while it touches your wound of betrayal more, and so forth, for all the wounds. The means used to discover which wounds are activated in a given situation are well described in my book on the wounds. I suggest you refer to it in order to learn more on this subject.

I would like to end this article by inviting you to remain vigilant with respect to your wounds. Remember that it is only through true love that we can heal them. As love is a synonym for acceptance, each time you become aware that you are rejecting, abandoning, humiliating, betraying or treating unjustly either another person or yourself, welcome yourself in these situations without criticizing yourself. Give yourself the right to have wounds. Simply be happy to see your wounds diminish, without thinking that one day they will be healed.

For your information, you should know that a person with no wounds would be able to live with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations, without ever criticizing them or himself or herself. I sincerely believe we will experience this sublime state one day, but not in this life here, because we have a lot of catching up to do. Be proud each time you realize that your wounds hurt less and less and that they are activated less and less often. That way, you will know that your soul is glad it is becoming more liberated from its suffering and that you are taking the path towards inner peace.

With love,

Lise Bourbeau