Seen: Healing Despair and Anxiety Through Connection Sample

When in Despair

Elijah struggled. Paul struggled. Jesus struggled.

I’ve often thought, why didn’t Paul need a therapist? I’m pretty sure if we experienced what Paul experienced, we would need therapy. But, Paul did have therapy. It was built within the culture in which he lived. Connection was woven into the fabric of the ancient times.

Connection with God, with others, and with self.

For instance, Jesus modeled withdrawing daily to connect with the Father. Paul likely lived the same way. Paul was deeply connected with others. Face-to-face, every day with brothers and sisters to pray, emotionally exhale, to feel empathy, and to feel seen. Paul didn’t feel like he was carrying his burdens alone. That’s an outcome of feeling seen. When we feel seen, we don’t feel alone. Even in the prison, he wasn’t alone.

Paul was also connected to himself. His slower pace in life meant that if he had a meeting in another town, he would likely have had to walk there. No phones, no podcasts, and no music. Just Paul alone with his thoughts and God.

Have you ever thought about why we are so afraid of silence in our culture today? Why we are afraid of stillness? Perhaps there are some feelings we’ve been avoiding. Perhaps it’s worry about the future that we hide away and keep in the deepest part of our hearts.

Our brains, over time, collect all that energy and all those hidden emotions. Stress produces cortisol in our bodies. A constant drip of cortisol causes the brain to increase processing on the right side, the amygdala. Over time, this creates a detachment from logical processing. Simply put, despair and anxiety can create a disconnection between the right side of our brains (emotional processing) and the left side of our brains (logically processing).

But when we help others feel seen, we can help influence healing.