Growing up on a dairy farm, I understand what it means to be branded. In the olden days, ranchers heated the branding iron in an open fire then seared their brand directly onto the hides of their cattle or horses. My father used ear tags for the same purpose – as a way to identify and claim ownership of his registered Holsteins.
When I was 10, I remember asking my dad if he thought the cows felt the pain. I felt deeply for their pain and wanted to know if there was another way to identify the cattle.

Now, as an adult, I understand this concept of branding all too well because I realize that, as a child, I too was branded. I was (and still am) a highly sensitive person coupled with some heart ailments. Because of this, I was branded the ‘weak one’. As a highly sensitive empath, I would often pick up on other people’s energies and carry them inside of me as if they were my own. Similarly, because I could not always physically keep up I was branded ‘fatso, heartache, and heart murmur’.

Wounded

As a small child, I often felt broken and not as good as everyone else, especially when I felt helpless, needy or vulnerable. Like a good kid, I loyally carried the ‘brand’ my family gave me and without even realizing it, turned the labels into some of my core ‘beliefs’. For many years, I walked around carrying ‘my brand’ believing that I was the emotionally and physically weak one. These beliefs had a huge impact on my self-worth and self-esteem. One of the stories that I carried with me into adult life was that I was not strong enough, smart enough, healthy enough or tough enough to succeed in life. In short – I saw myself as defective because I was wounded.

When our hearts and minds have been deeply wounded by our branding, it takes a great amount of courage, compassion and love to heal our emotional scars and replace the pain with love and inner light. It has been through my own journey of self-healing and self-discovery along with loving support, that I have given myself permission to remove the brand from my psyche and release the old wounds. It is important to point out that I could not do this entirely on my own for I needed trusted friends and professionals to support me by ‘holding the space’ with no judgement of my ‘brand’.

Heart Healing

Once I opened my heart and mind to this new journey, I was able to release the attachment to my old ways of thinking, judging and feeling. This new sense of awareness opened me up to experience a greater sense of joy, lightness and freedom along with a brand new self-image.

No longer needing to be fenced in by a brand, I released the pent up energy of past emotions and experiences, allowing the amplification of new energy and physical strength to replace the old wounds and ways of thinking. Like a horse running free, I expanded into new territory, allowing a deeper level of divine love, compassion and forgiveness to transform and heal my heart with lightness.

Today I carry a brand new story with me as I embrace my emotional intelligence, trust my intuition to guide and support me, and know that I have strengthened my core on all levels – body, mind & spirit.

What brands are you willing to release? And what will you replace them with? How will you allow others to ‘support’ you and hold your space along the way?

Brenda Bentley is a Certified Life Coach, Hypnotherapist and Spiritual Guide.  She is an avid collector of crystals, metaphysical tools and indigenous artwork and understands the energies around them.   She enjoys spending time in nature and working with others.  She offers her coaching services and customized CD’s at www.brendabentleycoaching.com.

Brenda Bentley Coaching is on:  Facebook | Linkedin

To learn more about coaching and to speak personally with Brenda, she is currently gifting a free 15-minute phone consultation.  She can be reached at: www.brendabentleycoaching.com or by email at: brenda@brendabentleycoaching.com.

This article was originally created and published by Brenda Bentley and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Brenda Bentley Coaching and Quantumstones.com. It may be re-posted freely intact with original links, proper attribution, author bio, and this Copyright/Creative Commons statement.

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