If this process succeeds, the consequences will be great, and often seemingly negative. Becoming honest is a betrayal of all false relationships – be they with friends, parents, partners, family members, colleagues, or with society as a whole. It throws old dynamics into turmoil, which can be especially painful if there is much interdependency – and history.
And then there are risks that are entirely internal. Before healing many people live in such denial of their true feelings that they don’t even feel pain. They live in a numb bubble, which, although deadly, often feels pleasant. Opening up ancient wounds forces the eruption of buried feelings, which tend to be ugly, stinking, painful, and pressured. This is a great shock to a system which has long become accustomed to feeling little or nothing – just as eating healthy food can initially feel sickening and even deadly for a junk food addict or a starving person. Few enjoy the grieving process, few enjoy crying, few enjoy the prolonged miseries and anxieties and radical self-doubts and sleepless nights and even physical illnesses associated with deep emotional growth, but such is change. It has its costs, but for the few willing and able to undertake its true journey, the benefits, in the long-run, are wonderful.
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