 It's quite a bold statement, 'Healing is possible for everyone!' Many may be sceptical, but bare with me and I'll show you how this is true. I think we can agree that all of us want to be healed in some way. There may be moments in our lives that are wracked with both physical or mental illness, when healing is really all we can think about. Or, there may be old wounds, festering in our subconscious that just won't go away; that affect our daily lives in many ways. I think you'll also agree that a journey of healing can often be demoralising, frustrating and downright confusing at times. So let me try to set the record straight. In this article I will seek to debunk some of the myths around healing. I'm also going to show you how you can heal yourself, but maybe not in the way that you expect to be healed. By the end, I hope you will come away with a clearer picture of what healing means to you, and how you can heal yourself in your daily life. The First Step: UnlearningThe first thing is to forget all your preconceptions about what healing actually is. At this point I'm not going to give you a definition of healing, because I fear it would either be far too broad, as to not really give you anything, or too narrow. Healing is one of those things that will be different for everyone - it will simply be what they need at the time (not necessarily what they want. This forgetting of preconceptions is not only important for the flow of this article, but also on any healing journey. Most people go into a journey of healing with an idea or goal of what their healing will look like; no more cancer, being able to walk again, being able to function in society, going back to work. Or, when they realise that there's no hope of these things, there's the feeling that healing has somehow eluded them, that it's no longer possible. However, healing can be found in the most unlikely and unlooked for ways. Healing MythsHere are a few of the major false expectations that taint a healing journey:
And here's the number one, bestselling myth out there, that almost everybody will believe at some point in their healing journeys: 'If I don't beat this illness, I haven't healed'It can be a huge blow for people when they discover that they won't recover from the illness or infliction that they have. They will likely experience some form of grief and likely some loss of identity. However, healing on some level is always possible. You may even find that through accepting and even embracing your illness, you change in a very positive way. Thus, often the illness is the tool used for healing. Stephen Levine recounts in his book, 'Healing into Life and Death'; 'A friend very ill with advanced cancer, visited a highly respected Zen Master, hoping for some answers to her questions about healing. After explaining her circumstances, she asked, "Do I need to take on some spiritual path in order to be healed?" The Zen Master smiled, leaned forward, pointing directly to her heart, and whispered, "you are the path."' What this means is that whatever illness or infliction we may have is just a tool on the overall journey of you. It is another stepping stone on the journey towards knowing yourself and being able to accept who you are and what life (and death) is. No matter what illness we may have, no person who has experienced a deep acceptance of life and themselves as beings within it can say that they don't feel like they've experienced healing. Is there a universal cure for all ailments? No. Is there an answer to the questions, 'How can I experience healing in all circumstances?', or, 'Is healing possible for me?' Yes!! That answer is LOVE. Love: The Ultimate HealingI'm not speaking about romantic love here, though of course that can play a part in healing too. I'm speaking about love as an unconditional acceptance and embracing of life as a whole. Not just the good parts, but everything. The physical and emotional pain, the illness that prevents you from doing the things that you want to do, the friends and relatives who just can't seem to understand. They're all to be loved because they're all a part of your journey to self realisation, to true healing. I'm sure there are many now thinking that this is a pretty tall order. Well I'm not saying it's easy, but blimey, it's worth it! Can you imagine the peace that this will bring? But, How? Here's How!Firstly, we need the commitment. This will not be an easy journey. Secondly, we need a blank slate. As stated earlier in this article, we need to forget about any preconceived ideas about what we want out of our healing journey. Then, we need to tear open our heart. Yes, it's brutal I'm afraid, but in order to get to that place of peace, we need to go through all of our darkness, all of our unexamined fears. We need to look them straight in the eye and accept them as a product of our thinking up to this point.  Thus, a process will follow. Gradually, all the fears that hold you back will be brought to the surface. It is important that we ask ourselves why we have these fears. What have we got to lose? Then we ask, how can I honour this fear without getting caught up in it? What aligned aspect of myself wants to come forth? An example of this would be a fear of losing a part of your identity; as a person who is a carer, a parent, a fit person, a sociable person. Then you can ask, if one of these roles is taken away from me, then how can I still express it within myself? Well, we can care for ourselves, with understanding; we can look after what physical functions we still have, without being attached to keeping them; we can get getting to know ourselves as there are always more stones to upturn, more explorations to be had. In doing this we learn to let go. We learn to embrace change. We learn to forgive ourselves and others. We learn who we are at in our essence. We learn to deal with physical pain. We even learn to embrace death, which in turn enhances life.  ConclusionThis, my friends, is true healing. It is never attached to a particular outcome. However, it is the cultivation of a way of being. It is the understanding of life and, more importantly, yourself as a whole entity, and loving all of it. For without the darkness we would not appreciate the light. If we can commit ourselves to this journey, then we may find that we begin to experience miracles. With love, Richard Further Exploration For more on the spiritual aspects of healing, check out this article from Trinity at Openhand: The True Nature of Healing
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A while ago I wrote an article about channelling sadness into beauty. It's about taking your grief and creating a beautiful expression from it. Now, I've come across this amazing video of a new father singing 'Blackbird' by The Beatles to his new born son. The sad story is that his wife died in childbirth, and his son died 4 days later. I can't watch this video without crying, its so beautiful in its tragedy. Tragic events like this take us closer to the meeting point of life and death, thus making everything more profound and intense. Life becomes a thing of fragile beauty, just like the blackbird in the song. |
AuthorMy name is Richard. I love to write, and here you can find my general musings, observations and articles. Enjoy! To stay up to date with articles follow my Facebook page
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