Do you realize that you have the power and capacity to heal yourself? Whether you're dealing with an acute or chronic injury, disease, mental illness, or addiction, you can learn what you need to heal. You can also take steps yourself to bring about that healing. All that is required is an open mind and a willingness to explore your beliefs and feelings.
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What is healing?
Before we dive into the five steps you can take to heal yourself, let's define "healing." Mirriam-Webster defines "heal" as: to make free from injury or disease, to make sound or whole, to make well again, and to restore to original purity or integrity.
Healing, then, means that we are free from whatever it is that has plagued us and has caused injury or dis-ease on any level.
If you have high blood pressure and you take medication to control it and your blood pressure is normal, this is not healing. This is managing a symptom. Healing would be doing what is necessary to have normal blood pressure without the need for ongoing medication.
I firmly believe that we are all capable of living a life full of love and joy, including vibrant health. Healing is a process of finding freedom from the things that hold us back from fully living as we are meant to live.
Are you ready to dive in? Let's go through the five steps to healing yourself.
Step 1: Know who you are
Do you know who you are? You are much, much more that what you see with your eyes. You have a physical body, but that is not who you are. Your true nature is perfect and eternal.
You are a divine spirit. You existed before you came here to earth, and you will continue to exist when you die. Death is simply the separation of the spirit from the body. The nature of who you are came with you when you were born, and will go with you when you die.
If you have children, you know the truth of coming to earth with a personality already in place. Every child is born with their own quirks and ways of being. The experiences of our ancestors are a part of who we are as well, and we carry not only their physical DNA but their emotional DNA as well. This is why character traits, both good and bad, run in families.
You are a perfect, eternal being
Understanding who you are is a critical first step for healing, because true healing occurs at the spiritual level, not just at the physical. All physical dis-ease has underlying emotional and spiritual dis-ease at its root. The emotional and spiritual issues underlying the physical dis-ease provide great insight into what we are experiencing.
This first step simply involves understanding that you are a spiritual being. If you'd like to dig deeper and learn more about what emotions and beliefs contribute to physical dis-eases, you'll want to get these two books to help you.
Step 2: Take responsibility
Take responsibility for where you are and for what you are experiencing.
Do you have a broken arm? Diabetes? Chronic fatigue? Cancer? Hypothyroidism? Are you overweight? Depressed? Do you suffer from bipolar disease?
It doesn't matter what the dis-ease is. In some way, you had a part in creating it for yourself.
Thoughts and beliefs are powerful enough to create your reality
Taking responsibility for what you are experiencing is a huge step for most people. If it's a totally new thought to you, you most likely want to stop reading right now and tell me I'm crazy.
"Jen," you're thinking, "there is no way I would have chosen to experience cancer/bipolar/depression (insert whatever you're dealing with here)."
Of course you wouldn't have! Not consciously, anyway. But your subconscious mind contains beliefs you're not aware you have. One way to know that you have certain beliefs is to look at your results and your circumstances. A second way is to look at patterns within your family.
If you're in a loving and healthy relationship, for example, it's because you have a strong sense of self-worth. You believe that you deserve to be treated well, loved, and respected. If you're in an abusive relationship, it's because you have a low self-worth. You don't have much love and respect for yourself, and you don't believe that you deserve to be treated well.
To become exceptional in caring for the body, one must take stock of the beliefs one has about it, especially those so ingrained that they're normally unconscious. ~ Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., in Love, Medicine & Miracles
Family patterns can be quite eye-opening, too. Look at your current relationships, then look at the relationships you parents have. Notice similar patterns? If you can, go back to your grand-parents and perhaps great-grandparents and their relationships. Do you have family patterns of healthy, loving environments, or patterns of dysfunction? Perhaps your parents were abusive. You may have broken free from repeating that pattern, but still have to heal from false beliefs about having a truly healthy relationship.
Healing requires owning your circumstances
Most people believe that they are constrained by their circumstances. They blame others for what they have or don’t have, for what they can do or don’t do. However, this belief takes away our power. It puts us in a position where we are helpless and powerless.
It's incredibly empowering to own the truth that we have can create our own lives and experiences through our thoughts and beliefs. Knowing that we contributed to the way things are right now, means we have the power to change things!
If you're always looking to someone else to "heal you," you're constantly giving away your power. You have the power within yourself. Your body and spirit know exactly what you need. All you need to do is ask.
Step 3: Discover the meaning behind the dis-ease
All dis-ease has some sort of meaning for us and can fulfill a need that is otherwise going unmet.
How many vacation days do you take to simply relax and nurture yourself? When I used to get sick and take a day or two off of work, I realized that my body was simply telling me that it needed a break and some self-care.
Sometimes we get sick and miss work because there's something we don't want to do. I'm sure you can recall days when your child had an upset stomach, but upon questioning, the real issue was a bully he didn't want to face.
If we are allowing ourselves to express our emotions, talk about our feelings, meet our needs, and practice forgiveness, we have much less reason to experience dis-ease.
Find the meaning behind the dis-ease
Take some quiet time to ask yourself some questions:
- Why are you experiencing your current dis-ease?
- What is the meaning behind it?
- What is your body trying to tell you?
- Why do you need it?
- What can you learn from it?
Step 4: Grow in awareness
Healing requires increased awareness of ourselves. Those questions listed in Step 3 require honesty, openness, and a willingness to hear things you might not want to hear.
Healing is an opportunity for growth. Every time we get sick or injured, or have an ongoing, chronic issue, there's a lesson (or two or three) to learn.
The first step with growing in awareness is realizing that you have a choice in how you view your dis-ease. If you feel like a victim and that nothing can be done, then there is nothing that will "cure" you.
If you choose instead to humble yourself and seek for guidance, then you will find the answers you need so that you can heal yourself. "And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22).
This step requires taking time to tune in to yourself.
Here are some ways to learn to hear your inner voice and grow in awareness:
- Pray
- Meditate
- Practice yoga, t'ai chi, or chi gong
- Journal, draw, or paint
- Take a long walk, dance, or sing
Step 5: Practice forgiveness
Once you find the underlying causes, lessons, or meaning behind the dis-ease, it's time for the true healing.
True healing happens when we forgive. Forgive means to completely let go of something. Let go of those false beliefs. Let go of the anger. Let go of the need to control. Let go of criticizing or complaining. Let go of whatever it is that holds you back and keeps you bound.
Forgiveness isn't just something we do for others. Much of the time, we need to forgive ourselves. This can be even harder to do, but it's no less important.
Forgiveness includes moving forward with optimism and hope. It's when we choose new beliefs that support our health, well-being, and joy. Beliefs of love, of laughter, or inherent goodness.
Once you discover the lesson for you, take steps every day to embrace it and become a better version of yourself. You are a beautiful, perfect spiritual being. Let your light shine!
Healing yourself
- You have all of the power and knowledge you need within yourself to find healing froom any disease.
- Take some time to uncover the beliefs you hold that have created the disease
- Choose new beliefs, and do what is necessary to change your circumstances and take better care of yourself.
How have you been able to heal yourself? What dis-ease pattern have you changed in your life?
