talking to an empty chair.

What if I told you that talking to an empty chair was one of the most freeing and healing experiences I had during my three years in counseling? You're probably thinking something to the effect of "what in the world? She talked to an empty chair?" Yep, I sure did!

It was my senior year at IWU. I was working with my therapist to find healing from a fragmented relationship in my life. My therapist pointed to an empty chair and said "Pretend that they are sitting in that chair. What would you say to them?" I thought this was simply a rhetorical question to get me thinking, but no. My therapist actually wanted me to talk out loud to an empty chair.

I was hesitant at first, and doubted that this exercise would be beneficial, but I played along. I turned toward the empty chair and began to talk to "them." I shared my hurt, my need to let go of the past and desire to move forward. I asked for forgiveness for the way I treated them. And I forgave them for the way they treated me. Before I knew it, I was crying my eyes out. All because I talked to an empty chair.

Turns out my therapist knew what they were doing. I was finally able to share the thoughts and emotions I had been bottling up for years in a safe environment. It was a major step in making peace with my past.

Past hurts can cripple us.
Broken relationships have the power to leave us empty.
Soon the pain and emptiness becomes our new "normal."
And apathy takes over.

Sometimes we become so comfortable in our pain that the thought of healing can be terrifying. The pain is all we know, so we desperately hold on. We may not even realize that's what we are doing.

If you're hurting today, I pray that God will bring someone in your life to walk alongside you. To encourage you and speak truth into your life. To cry with you, to cry for you. I pray that you can find the strength to unclinch your fists and let go. That you may be able to find peace and walk down the path of healing.

Go ahead. Take that first step toward healing, whatever it may be.
Talk to an empty chair. Write a letter. Ask for forgiveness. Forgive.
Heal.