EMDR Therapy – A Personal Reflection

EMDR therapy feels, in many ways, like surgery on the brain. It is the closest comparison I can make to a physical operation. If one were to think of a knee injury, for example, the analogy becomes clear. My mind, much like an injured knee, functioned well enough for most activities. Yet when it came to high performance — to being fully aligned, sharp, and at my best — I could still feel the weakness, the internal injury that held me back.

After EMDR, it feels as though that knee has been repaired. You only begin to appreciate the change when you find yourself in familiar situations again — the same ones that once caused pain or hesitation. Suddenly, you realize how much faster you can move, how much freer and more stable you have become. The increased mobility changes everything: how you work, how you react, how you navigate the world. The same is true for the mind. The transformation is subtle yet profound.

You do not truly realize how much EMDR has changed your thinking until you revisit the old triggers — until life presents those same challenges and you notice your mind responding differently. The thought process itself feels familiar, almost identical to before, but the emotional charge is gone. The toxic impulses and the self-defeating reactions that once interfered with my execution of goals, dreams, and ambitions have dissolved.

My goals, dreams, and ambitions remain exactly the same. What has changed is the way I approach them — my planning, my execution, my patience with the process. In relationships, the difference is even more distinct internally. Outwardly, others may only see subtle shifts, but within, the emotional structure feels entirely redefined. I manage and compartmentalize emotions in a balanced, healthy way, and that internal peace is something no one can fully see, yet I feel it every day.