I already knew how powerful the mind-body connection is, and how inner suffering can play a significant role in the development of illness. A few years later, thanks to a brief therapy technique, I was able to free myself from it. Through my studies, I later came to fully understand what had triggered it all.
That first therapeutic journey didn’t cure me, but it was still very important, as it helped me grow and gain insight, and because of that, I managed to free myself from certain issues.
I remember that after each analytical session, the joint pain caused by lupus would increase dramatically, particularly in my hips. I interpreted this as my difficulty in walking forward – in moving through life. Lupus was highly debilitating and limiting, just like the inner pain I was experiencing.
On the day we concluded the therapy, I gave my analyst a wrought iron bicycle as a gift. The lupus was still lurking, but I felt better, freed from certain burdens, and much stronger. The bicycle symbolised the tool that, with such patience and care, my analyst had given me – or perhaps helped me to build – to walk, and even run, to pedal freely and independently.
Now, when I think about the difficulties that came in the following years, about all the situations I had to face that sometimes brought me to my knees, I realise this: I’ve learned that no matter how hard life gets, and no matter how lost or vulnerable you may feel, if you truly listen to yourself, the truth always comes to the surface. And if you truly believe in something, you must follow that path and never give up – especially when it comes to yourself and what is vital for you.