Not just mentally or metaphorically - when you're burdened with secrets, those secrets can actually manifest into physical symptoms.

Secrets have been linked to anxiety, depression, decreased overall health and they can even feel like physical weights within the body. If you've been carrying a secret for many years, it's likely that you no longer even recognize how heavy it has become. Maybe you've heard the phrase "the body keeps the score" - our bodies and minds are sophisticated memory banks for everything we've ever seen, heard and experienced. When we carry secrets, they're not just stored in our minds; we're carrying them around physically as well. Our subconscious minds are processing information at an average rate of 40 million bits of information per second. With all this data, our subconscious is highly skilled at tying bits and pieces of environmental information together to identify patterns and to make sense of the world around us. Now, you may be wondering how this relates to your health.

Let's put this into context to better understand why it matters. In this example, you stole some money from your mom's purse as a kid. You really needed it for something at school, but she already said "no". If you got caught, you knew you'd be in for the punishment of a lifetime, but you thought you could get away with it just this once... It was a Saturday, the cat clock in the kitchen by your mom's purse was ticking extra loudly as you quietly crept past it. You could still smell mac and cheese wafting from the stove as you reached into the purse to feel for her wallet. Just as you're pulling out the cash, a car races by on the street out front, abruptly beeping its horn, causing you to jump. For a split second, you thought you'd been caught, but all is well. You place the wallet back in the purse and head back towards your bedroom. On the way back to your room, your mom catches you off guard in the hallway, putting away some towels in the linen closet. Your heart picks up a little as you walk past her and her burnt orange sundress. She smiles at you as you hurry past. A week goes by and she doesn't say a word about the missing money. Another week, and then a month, and eventually you've forgotten about the whole thing.

But your brilliant subconscious remembers every detail. This part of your mind has been designed to keep you safe, to keep a record of every tiny piece of information that could be related to current danger, based on past experiences. While your conscious mind has all but forgotten the stolen money, your subconscious mind has been sending a small alert through your nervous system every time you hear a clock ticking, every time you smell mac and cheese, every time a car honks its horn and every time you see the color burnt orange. Each time you receive this internal alert, your body reacts with a subtle stress response; your cortisol rises, your heart rate upticks, your body tenses up ever so slightly... Each time, your body is quietly preparing for a fight. It's likely that you've never even noticed these physical responses, because they are so slight and happening below the level of conscious awareness. But by the time you are an adult, and you're stressed on a daily basis from your unfulfilling job, and your chores are piling up faster than you can complete them, and you haven't had enough sleep for weeks now... you didn't notice at first, but seemingly overnight you now also have the worst chronic neck pain. When you stop to think about it, you're actually tense all over. Why the pain and tension seem to be the worst on Saturdays, your day off, you'll never understand. And you can't seem to pinpoint what causes a flare-up... besides driving in traffic - but who doesn't hate driving in traffic?

Your conscious mind has not put all these pieces together because it can only process an average of 40 bits of information per second. You have no idea that the clock you keep in the bedroom, or the burnt orange car you drive, or the mac and cheese that has always been your favorite food are all sending subconscious triggers to you on a daily basis, telling you to stay alert for a fight. And over all this time, you've manifested the physical symptom of chronic neck pain as a result.

Imagine what bits of information your subconscious mind stored as an alert trigger when a close friend swore you to secrecy many years ago, and you never told a soul because you didn't want to damage your friendship. Imagine what was stored when you overheard a conversation you weren't supposed to hear, and you kept quiet for fear of repercussions. Imagine what has been stored in every instance you kept a secret, pushed it deep down from a place of fear, shame or guilt, and maybe even consciously forgot about it while your subconscious continued to work hard in an ongoing state of alert to keep you safe.

How many secrets are still holding? What is the mental and physical price you have been paying for them over time? What would it be like to release them, to show your body that it is now safe to relax around the previous triggers that you didn't even consciously know you had?