Free your energy by facing old emotional wounds

You’re running to catch a train when suddenly you overhear a comment that cuts straight to old shame you buried years ago. Your heart races, your breath catches and—before you know it—you’re replaying every painful moment from your past.

That’s the moment you’ve been waiting for. Because when an emotion flares up that intensely, it’s doing you a favor: it’s turning a buried wound into conscious awareness. Most of us push these signals away—by checking our phone, gossiping or grabbing a snack—and wonder why the same pain sneaks back again. Each interruption tucks that hurt deeper into your heartset, quietly draining your energy and creativity behind the scenes.

Here’s the trick that therapists call emotional exposure: stop backing away from the feeling. Ground yourself, find where it lives in your body—perhaps a heavy knot in your stomach or a tightening of your chest—and breathe into it until you own it. Keep a gentle curiosity, like an empath leaning into someone else’s story, and let the sensation rise and fall with each breath. You might feel itchier, squirm more or even want to bolt. Stay a little longer. As author Brene Brown points out, courage is feeling the fear and doing it anyway.

Then make a conscious choice to let it go. Whisper under your breath, “Thank you for protecting me. I choose to release you now.” As you exhale, imagine the old pain flowing down and out. You’ll feel lighter, clearer and surprisingly stronger. You just performed a surgical strike on your Field of Hurt. Over time, each release stacks into a mountain of inner peace and unstoppable creative fire.

Each time simmering emotions block your flow, pause and notice where the real pain hides in your body. Hold still, breathe deeply into that spot and stay with the raw feeling. Then make a deliberate choice to let it go—you might say, “I release this now”—and imagine the tension flowing out with your exhale. Keep practicing until you can calmly sit with discomfort and watch it dissolve. Give it a try the next time an old wound rages up.