Recently I gave a talk on this topic and wanted to share it because I am so passionate about helping people broaden their thinking around how healing occurs and hope to inspire them to begin noticing how often they are taken out of the healing process, either by themselves or by the system. Please feel free to forward onto and share this with someone you know who may need to read it.
What do you think of when you hear the words healing process? The responses are usually something like:
- having a healthy mind
- getting your body back into balance
- taking the right medications for the condition
- meditation and yoga
- eat healthily and exercise more.
These are all wonderful answers, all of which would contribute to the healing process and there is much more to it.
For the healing process to reach its full potential we need to have a holistic view. Holistic is another word that is thrown around everywhere nowadays. When I use holistic it means taking mind/body/spirit and environment into consideration. Let's break it down a little further!
Mind - psychological (mental)/emotional
The mind is made to think. Mind makes a wonderful servant and a terrible master! If we are able to harness the power of our mind and use it well we create an incredible resource for ourselves. What usually happens is mind controls everything. We over think and exhaust ourselves, depleting our internal resources. Using our mind like this destabilises our emotional balance showing up as anxiety, stress or other illness. Many people have never experienced a state where their mind has been their servant!
Body - physical/emotional
Like the mind, the body has two elements. There is the physical aspect that we need to pay attention to for optimal health. The body needs clean, fresh, whole foods and daily routines to support its vitality. Whole foods are full of life force and give life while processed foods (including GM foods) are dead and cause toxins and disease. We are what we eat!
The second aspect is emotions and how these can be held in the body. It would be safe to assume that we all hold our emotions in our body. How can we not? Society doesn't allow space for expression of the so called negative emotions - so what do we do with them? Links have been made to disease and unattended emotions. The body has its own memory. "It's the little things you do or don't do every day that creates your health" Dr Robert Svoboda.
Spiritual
Spiritual doesn't necessarily mean religion. For some of us being in nature, near the ocean or being with animals fulfils our spiritual connection. There is some kind of acknowledgement that there is more than just us while in connection with spiritual energy. We are vibrational beings and we are made of the same elements as nature, we are interconnected with all beings and plants.
Environment
Environment is very important and is not often considered in the healing process. Our environment matters. If you live with people/family where there is constant tension or fighting and your desire is to live peacefully there will be inner and outer conflict. Your outer environment doesn't match your inner environment. You can use this same analogy with your work. If you work at a job you hate, what does that do to your mind/body/spirit?
To experience the whole healing process you need to pay attention to all four aspects of mind/body/spirit and environment.
Test out how your thoughts influence your body with this little experiment. Take your time to really feel into it.
- Call to mind a happy experience. Notice how your body feels. Notice how your mind feels. What else do you notice? Did you smile automatically?
- Now call to mind a sad experience. Notice what happens to your body. Notice how your mind feels now. What else do you notice? Did your smile disappear?
Take yourself back to a happy memory so you can finish this exercise on a positive note.
Notice how your emotions change many things in your body and mind. Imagine this amplified by traumatic situations that last a long time and which can often be left unattended for years. Imagine living with this disturbance all your life! How does this affect your body/mind/spirit and environment? Balance in the mind/body/spirit and environment play an essential part in your health and well-being.
We are a society of quick fixes which unfortunately doesn't work. We need to attend to the core issue, not just the symptoms. When wanting to heal we need to look using a holistic view which includes the mind/body/spirit and environment.
If you have resonated with this information and would like to follow up, you may be interested in applying for a free 1-hour strategy session.
May you be well and may you be happy.
