WHAT IS GOING ON WITH ME???

Soul Wounding and Moral Injuries

April 5, 2025

Have you ever had one of those dreams that just wakes you up with shivers?

Last night I had such a dream. In the dream, I was watching a HUGE TV screen in my

living room. It was the kind of enormous screen that is all consuming and imposing. There was just no way to miss what was now coming across this gigantic screen.

At the bottom of this screen was one of those flashing banners that grabs you in case somehow you might miss the message on that huge screen. It said BREAKING NEWS.

As I watched, the banner continued its message:

BREAKING NEWS ... ALL BORDERS NOW CLOSED

The news commentator went on to declare no one could leave or enter the boundaries of the United States except as directed by ICE and the White House.

In my dream, I began panicking about my upcoming trip to see our daughter and her family in New Zealand. Well, that trip was now gone! Then, a multitude of images

flashed where I couldn't reach either of my children, nor could they reach me. The TV

screen was flooded with crying individuals and families in their homes, at airports, in

hospitals; people being escorted and detained by ICE officials.

Then, I woke myself up I think because I could take no more!

OK that was the dream. Actually, a nightmare. It was so vivid that I turned on the television to do a reality check. In our family whenever we have a big dream, we usually talk about it with each other. One of the hazards of having a therapist in the family. We look for both internal and external meanings – what we are working through internally and externally. Sometimes, we consider dreams as potential warnings in our lives.

So that's exactly what I did over a bowl of oatmeal, as I shared my dream with my husband, Jim. And what he said hit truth inside me. “Honey, your soul is being wounded. I think that's what's going on for so many of us. We don't have all the words to express what is happening around us, but we are seeing the symptoms of lots of soul wounds”.

Well, it makes sense. 

Think about it.

Do you have or see evidence of soul wounds moral injury in your life or those around you?

Soul Wounds or Moral Injury happens when:

o   We are involved in or witness events that violate our morals, values, or ethical code.

o   Our emotions are deeply wounded.

o   We are not sure how to express or understand the pain, so it isn’t worked through or

healed.

o   We experience a loss of trust in ourselves, others and institutions involved in the.

wounding.

o   We then experience emotional, perhaps even psychogical or behavioral , or spiritual

suffering.

o   Moral injury can challenge individuals' beliefs about justice, goodness, and their place in

the world. 

In short, or moral compass, our souls feel wounded.

What are signs of having soul wounds?

• Shame-led thoughts

  Damaged goods thinking

• Safety and security have broken

• Fear-led thoughts

• Frozen emotions

• Trust issues with God and others

• Fearful of life

• Anger towards God and others

I will provide more details on this later, but for now, consider how this might be manifesting in your life and environment. I invite you to write to me about how you are experiencing soul wounds/moral injuries in your own life or in the lives around you.

If you provide examples, I will anonymously share them and publish a response column to examine whether and how we are experiencing moral injury and soul woundedness. We are in this together. Let's start the sharing, which is part of how we heal.

LAST WORD, before you end this day, read my next blog, REACH OUT AND REACH IN, on caring for our souls and moral well-being. I want you to breathe a bit and care for yourselves. Develop a regular plan of self care to manage our stress and distress. If possible, I don't want to leave you stressed out by reading this post along with the plunge of the stock market!

Wow….and all of this came from a dream of fear of borders being closed. Obviously, a lot is going on with me! What about you? What's going on in you?

Be well. Breathe. Remember who you are.