THE HEALING PATH
Healing
is much more than eliminating symptoms.
It is a path that can be embraced - a path toward wholeness and
oneness. It is a process of re-integrating
or re-membering all that one is and all that one can be. Here are some features of the healing
path.
Desire
and Intention. Desire is the motivating force for
everything. A strong desire for
healing, no matter how it is felt, is absolutely necessary. Intention has to do with maintaining
this desire consistently.
Consistent desires maintained by intention lead to consistent results.
Discipline.
Healing often involves developing discipline. The word discipline is derived from the same root as the
word disciple. Discipline is not
so much a harsh striving to achieve a goal, as it is the honing of one's skill
in an area.
For
healing to occur, forces that controlled the body and emotions have to be
brought under conscious control.
Regimens that retrain the body and brain have to be pursued. One may indeed choose illness to learn
discipline. Discipline can be as
simple as following a diet and doing some exercise. It may involve years of working through emotional traumas,
following the threads of intuition to their sources deep within the psyche. The
discipline may be simply learning to follow one's intuition, instead of being
distracted or caught up in ideologies and concepts.
Allowing
and Surrender. Allowing and surrender are also
critical for healing. It is often
necessary to allow symptoms to play out as part of healing. It may also be necessary to allow
emotions to surface, or to allow oneself to undergo unusual or uncomfortable
experiences or therapies. Allowing
also has to do with permitting a process of healing to occur, when the mind is looking for healing
to be simply an event.
Surrender
is the outcome of allowing. When
faced with difficult decisions or conditions, one learns to surrender to the
higher will or God's will.
Eventually, one surrenders it all - fears, feelings of smallness,
symptoms and even the ego's feelings of despair.
Surrender requires digging deeply into
oneself. Here lie great power,
strength and mystery. The
ego, with which most people identify most of the time, is but a small part of
who one is. Peak experiences or
enlightenment are when one transcends the ego part of oneself.
Near-death
experiences often touch this vast and mysterious part of oneself. People returning from these experiences
are often transformed. Their lives
change dramatically and their illnesses and neuroses often vanish. Excellent books about these experiences
include those by Raymond Moody, MD,
Damian Brinkley and others.
Writers
from biblical times to the present have described vast realms and dimensions
inhabited by incredible beings, places one visitd while asleep, and so
forth. Most people do not give
themselves credit for the beings they are. While symptoms may be addressed along the way, the
challenge is to remain aware of the complexity and mysteriousness of human
life.
Reclaiming
Power. Healing requires giving up the victim
mentality, and recognizing and reclaiming power. The ego part of oneself is a fearful victim that seeks
safety and security. The grander
part of oneself is powerful, adventurous and unafraid.
Taking
Responsibility. With power comes responsibility. The attitude of taking responsibility
for whatever exists in one's life is very empowering. It should not create guilt. If one created a mess, one can un-create it. No need to waste time and energy in
self-pity or blaming others. Even
if one does not know what to do, just the idea that one has the power to alter
one's life is new for many people and most empowering.
Developing
a Sense of Humor. Some people are familiar with Norman
Cousins¹ experience with a crippling form of arthritis. When his doctors told him there was
little hope of a cure, he cured himself watching humorous movies. At first, laughing gave him temporary
relief from pain. After a while,
the relief lasted longer until the pain did not return.
Laughing
breaks one out of the negative thought and belief patterns that often created
the illness in the first place. It
is hard to laugh and be depressed or angry at the same time.
Humor
temporarily detaches one from predicaments, reduces stress and releases
beneficial substances into the blood.
Detaching
Emotionally. Emotional detachment allows one to
examine beliefs and behaviors without defensiveness or guilt. It helps one explore new ideas and
therapies, avoid resentments and guilt, and stay calm in the midst of
chaos.
Exploring
Healing Modalities. The same condition can be approached
through physical, biochemical, electrical, emotional, mental, spiritual or
energetic means. Looking at
a beautiful sunset, petting your cat, sitting under a tree, talking to a
friend, and thousands of other experiences can also facilitate healing. I tell clients they can and eventually
will heal, but I am not sure how it will occur, or how much effort and
searching it will take.
The
multiplicity of healing methods reflects just how complex one is. It also reflects how exotic and
remarkable is the universe in which we live. Healing is in part about opening oneself to unlikely and
unlimited possibilities. Some
would call them miracles. Knowing
the limitless possibilities for healing in itself facilitates healing, as it
helps release fear and despair that are often at the root of what must be
overcome for healing to occur.
Participating
Actively. Research
reported by Dr. Bernie Siegel indicates those who question and even disobey
their doctors, taking back control of their healing process, fare better than
the 'good, cooperative' patients.
Exploring
healing at a distance. There is now scientific evidence that
healing occurs at a distance.
Double-blind scientific experiments prove that prayer at a distance, for
example, can affect the outcome of surgery and other medical outcomes. This is explored in detail in an excellent
book entitled Pray Well
by Walter Weston and in Space, Time and Medicine by Larry Dossey.
This
means it is possible to receive help from a distance, as well as to offer help
at a distance. This can be a great
comfort, and most useful in many situations.
Understanding
Collective Consciousness. An idea related to healing at a
distance is the collective consciousness.
It is the idea that we share a knowing at some level. What happens to any one and what is
known to anyone affects all others.
As
one person heals, insights and information become available to all others, and
it becomes easier for others to heal.
In fact, some take on an illness or condition out of compassion and love
for the collective, to heal it for the sake of the whole.
Going
Beyond Life and Death. The healing path goes beyond the goal
of survival of the physical body.
The healing path teaches there may be value in suffering, if it is used
as a springboard for healing.
There are many excellent books on the subject of death and dying. These books can help shift one's
perceptions about death. They
present death as a transition to another dimension, and certainly not the end
of life. Healing in certain
other cultures involves preparation for death so that it is welcomed, not
feared.
Practicing
Forgiveness. Forgiveness is often an essential
requirement for healing.
Forgiveness releases one from the need to control, justify, or even
understand an event. It also helps
one let go of grudges and judgments of events, people and situations. This greatly reduces stress on the body
and facilitates healing as nothing else.
Licensing
Laws. Many people are confused by laws that
proclaim that only those with licenses, or that which is approved, can heal
one. Some day I hope these laws
will be seen as silly attempts to control the healing arts. They promote false beliefs and limit
healing, thus harming an unaware public.
Resources
A Course in
Miracles
Anatomy of an
Illness by Norman Cousins
Getting Well
Again by O. Carl Simington
Journey Beyond
Words by Brent Haskell
Journeys Out
of the Body by Robert
Monroe
Joy's Way by Brugh Joy
Life After
Life by Raymond Moody
Love, Medicine
and Miracles by Bernie
Siegel
Love Without
End by Glenda Green
On Death and
Dying by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross
Patient Power by John Goodman and Gerald Musgrave
Pray Well by Walter Weston
Quantum
Healing by Depak Chopra
Saved by the
Light by Damian Brinkley
Space, Time
and Medicine by Larry
Dossey
The Healing
Path by Marc Ian Barasch
The Jeshua
Letters by Marc Hammer
Who Lives by Richard Moss
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