"If you are still being hurt by an event that happened to you at twelve, it is the thought that is hurting you now"

The quote by James Hillman recommends that psychological pain from past occasions continues to impact us not due to the fact that of the event itself, but since of our present ideas about that occasion. Hillman, a Jungian psychologist, highlights the long-lasting nature of mental wounds when they are perpetuated and kept alive through memory and reflection.

When he states, "it is the thought that is hurting you now," Hillman implies that the pain is not anchored in the previous event but in how we process and ruminate over it in today. The occasion at age twelve is a fixed point in time, an unchangeable previous incident. Nevertheless, our continued focus on it, our consistent revisiting and psychological accessory to the memory, is what resumes old wounds.

This point of view shifts the locus of power and duty back to the individual. It recommends that healing can be pursued by changing how we think of our past. While the initial event can not be undone, our present ideas are within our control. By altering our understandings, redefining the story we inform ourselves, and reframing our experiences, we can lessen the discomfort they enforce.

Hillman's view ties into more comprehensive psychological principles about cognition and emotion, particularly the concept that our thoughts affect our feelings. Cognitive treatments, for instance, typically focus on altering maladaptive thought patterns to alter psychological results. Thus, Hillman's quote encapsulates a core restorative insight: that the path to healing from past traumas lies, a minimum of in part, in changing the thoughts that continue to perpetuate pain.

In essence, Hillman isn't rejecting the truth of past trauma, but rather suggesting that present freedom from its impact can be attained through mental shifts. By acknowledging the power of our present thoughts, we recognize the extensive capability we hold for personal recovery and psychological flexibility.