“Feelings Buried Alive Never Die…” by Karol K Truman
**The reflections shared in this newsletter are for educational and spiritual growth purposes only and are not meant to replace professional medical or mental health care. Please remember that healing is a personal journey, and while emotional and spiritual practices can support well-being, they are not a substitute for guidance from a qualified healthcare provider. If you are experiencing physical or emotional distress, we encourage you to seek professional support alongside your inner work.**
We’ve all heard that it’s a dog eat dog world out here. What less of us have heard is that most times, the dog is inside of us. Growing up, I had this wonderful tool that showed me my dog, and how to care for him properly.
The book Feelings Buried Alive Never Die… by Karol K Truman was an integral part of my childhood and I reference it today for guidance on my physical and emotional struggles. I think I read it for the first time when I was 10 or 11, and reread it every couple of years with fresh, more mature eyes. I learn something new every single time I read it.
I learned about the adverse effects of leaving my feelings unresolved and in turn how to integrate acceptance and thus healing into my life. I had a difficult early childhood, and even though I couldn’t grasp the depth of the work I was doing, I knew that I felt better. Now as an adult I am better able to experience, reflect and heal through all the facets of life with grace, compassion and empathy for myself and others.
Like most children, growing up I was told to “stop crying”, “go over there and be quiet”, “be a man about it”, “wipe that look off your face” and other phrases. Being told these things at such a young age enabled us to suppress our feelings before they fully arrived, knowing that crying or acting upset would get us in trouble.
So what happens to the emotion when it's stifled instead of released? It doesn’t die. You’ve just buried it alive. We think we’ve moved on, but the body and subconscious remember. The shadow is simply the emotional residue of everything we’ve been told not to feel.
When we experience anything, our brain creates a thought around that experience. That thought then transforms into an emotion- anger, indignation, joy, gratitude, sorrow- and that emotion affects our behavior.
Karol explores how when the feeling part of that cycle is repressed, it causes imbalance, leading to reactive behaviors or somatic symptoms. It cuts off the connection between the mind and body.
She writes that unresolved conflict, shame, perceived “negative” experiences and emotions will store themselves in the subconscious and if left untouched, into our very DNA. They will bleed into our lives, relationships, even our physical bodies and cause more conflict, pain, confusion and loneliness.
“Whatever we resist, persists until it is fully accepted and released in love.”
— Karol K. Truman, Feeling Buried Alive Never Die
Shadow work is the integration of these “bad” parts of ourselves and by allowing them to take up space we rob them of their power over our body, mind and heart. One way to do that is by using The Script.
Karol introduces us to “The Script”, a practice of conscious affirmation that releases our “negative” emotion or feeling and transforms it with what we want to embody. The entire chapter 17 lists emotional afflictions and what we may wish to experience instead. For example, we could replace “Easily frustrated” with “peaceful”, "calm", “confident”, and “relaxed;” or “humiliated” with “honored”, “loved”, and “respected.”
The Script not only gives us the opportunity to identify a feeling and its source, but to affirm its integration within the body. In some cases, we may even be able to heal our ailments. We reconnect the brain and the body, allowing for a reactivation of harmony and flow. We return to our original, perfect state.
If we still don't acknowledge it, the dog begins to growl.
Karol writes that every physical ailment can be linked to an unhealed emotion left in the body, patiently waiting to be resolved. Unhealed, unacknowledged, resented and rejected feelings fester over the years and eventually grow too big for the metaphysical. They reside in the body, so they begin to affect the body.
I had chronic sudden and unexplainable nosebleeds when I was a child, and after a while I got curious if there could be something more to it than the dry Wisconsin air.
Page 252- Nosebleeds: feeling overlooked. I remember sitting on the floor of my bedroom, tissue to my nose, and finally understanding why I’d been so angry lately: feeling as though nobody saw me or cared about me. This was, of course, untrue and reflective of experiences of when I was much younger. I must’ve ran through The Script 10 times in the following days, talking with my parents and voicing my accomplishments more confidently.
I can’t say I never had a nosebleed again, but they always had a clear and reasonable explanation.
While we are very much physical beings who need to take care of the body, we can tandem our literal healing with the healing of our mind, soul and hearts. When we transform the trauma in the mind, we allow the body to release what it’s been storing and perhaps prevent the illness from returning altogether since we took care of its “source.”
I can’t tell you how many times I have used The Script. I can recite it from memory and usually turn to this tool when I feel otherwise out of control, when my feelings get the better of me and I know that without help I will likely make things worse. If an affliction appears for seemingly no reason or returns many times, I know it is my body telling me that something is begging to be noticed. Who am I to ignore the whines and barks from inside me?
The Script is a grounding tool- when I have trouble naming this feeling, or deciding how I want to feel instead, running through this prayer of sorts gives me a clear road ahead, no fog and no clouds. When my body is out of wack, I take some medicine and then sit down and journal about what could be showing its teeth to me. Even if I'm wrong and the sickness is indeed just germs, there is still value in self-reflection.
It’s also a tool I turn to when I’m ready to unpack the next deep-seeded limiting belief I know is holding me back. It’s a great way to begin the process of shadow work, whether you know what you need to work through or are just beginning the journey.
A dog that bites is not a bad dog; it’s a scared dog, and that’s what you should remember. Gentle but firm action is what is ultimately going to lead him out of the corner and bounding into the sunlight. Your emotions are the same way. Guide them, don’t force them, to find healing.
Blessed Be,
<3 Ryan
