Several months ago a friend and I were discussing various health issues and how to address them, which led us to the question ‘what is healing?’ Bizarrely, such a seemingly straightforward question headed into considerable mental gymnastics, and as a result I have rolled this question around in my mind again… and again… and again!
Wikipedia tells us that healing literally means to make ‘whole’ – “it is the process of the restoration of health to an unbalanced, diseased or damaged organism.” Whilst this is a nice, tidy statement, it goes nowhere close to capturing the meaning of healing in all its different guises. The fact is that health and healing are totally personal and subjective and involve considerably more than simply the removal of symptoms.
Each of us follows a path that works for us at any particular moment in our lives. And, as we grow, develop and choose different life experiences or, are influenced by our peers, the media or, more importantly our instinct, so our approach to health and healing changes too.
And so, like the proverbial bar of soap the meaning of ‘what is healing?’ kept shooting out of my grasp or, perhaps more precisely, generated as many different ideas and questions as I was attempting to solve. So here are a few which might trigger some thoughts for you to consider.
Ultimately, it seems to me that the route to health and healing is whatever anyone wants it to be… and that it involves the heart, mind and spirit as well as the body. The actual spark of healing is therefore intangible; it may be called a particular drug, or herb, a flower in the garden, or a therapy; but whatever it is, healing itself involves all the aspects of the human condition and it is a totally subjective. What is right for you may not work for me... So, no wonder there are such a variety of different healing methods and systems, all of which are perfect in their own way for the person with whom they resonate.
For each of us there is something that will touch us, depending on our beliefs, education, upbringing, trust, bank balance or intuition. And who is to say what is right or wrong… only the person themself. Some people think they must follow a medical path for everything from the common cold to a triple heart bypass, whilst others prefer a mixture of approaches utilising herbal or homeopathic solutions for more everyday problems, but turning to modern medical science when it comes to a broken leg or breast cancer. And, there are others who will not go anywhere close to a doctor or hospital for all manner of reasons.
But then it struck me that perhaps the question is not: ‘what is healing’? So much as ‘what is health?’
We encounter stereotypical images of healthy people in advertising images throughout the world, images that encourage us to believe that to be truly healthy we need to conform to certain physical and lifestyle parameters. Yet this is erroneous too. For one person, health is to be finally cancer free, for another it is to be pain free, for yet another, cough free… But health can also be found sitting happily in a wheel chair relishing every moment of every day, healthy and happy may be a person without eyesight or difficulty with hearing. Each one of us has our own criteria for health.
Often health has a direct correlation to the things we want to do and if some physical inability prevents us from doing that, then we believe there must be something wrong with us. As we get older we become frustrated that our body does not enable us to live life as we choose or demand. For example: we can no longer play tennis or ski, food sensitivity makes eating certain foods difficult or, an accident has made walking extremely painful if not almost impossible.
In reality we are not exactly unhealthy but need to be realistic about the way our bodies develop over time and take time to nurture and adjust to the changes not only physically but emotionally.
And so this leads to… what is a patient?
In basic terms the word patient means one that suffers and suffering can be on any level. A patient seeks help from a health professional when they know something isn’t quite right but don’t have the knowledge or capability to deal with the situation themselves. Or a patient can be someone who has a major medical problem and requires surgery or drug intervention.
But a patient can also be someone who wants to hand over the responsibility for themselves to another person they believe can ‘fix’ them. Or who has a huge investment in being poorly for all the juice they get out of the situation, normally love and attention.
Equally there are those people who just do not have time to be poorly, they don’t have time to be a ‘patient’ and these people deal with ill health from the totally opposite end of the spectrum never giving themselves enough time or attention to resolve what may start as a simple issue until it spirals out of control and they are laid low with much more serious ailments.
And so we come full circle and I ask – are any of us any clearer about the original question: What is Healing?
What follows is my personal take on the question but I am sure yours will be different…
Healing is about taking responsibility for yourself. It is understanding that healing is more than your body; it is your mind, your emotions, your friendships, and your relationships with others. Healing comes in a vast array of different activities not just addressing physical nourishment and medical intervention, but involving your creativity, your silence, your learning, your communication, your playfulness, your interaction with nature and all living things. And most importantly, healing requires us to spend time considering the relationship we have with ourselves.
Each of us have our own particular journey and sometimes what we need in order to heal is to be kind to ourselves and be the true authentic voice in our lives every moment of every day.
Agree or disagree? Let me know at…hermes.has.wings@gmail.com
