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Healing is all about venturing into the past, peeping into our subconscious, braving the trenches of our hurt and pain and facing it all, embracing it and reclaiming wholeness within ourselves.
Healing is a courageous journey that never ends. If we do the bulk of it, the rest gets easier, a natural way of being. It’s important not to think “healing” is ever over but it becomes a crucial way of approaching life’s unending challenges. The first noble truth of Buddhism is that suffering is a part of life. It’s through our healing journey that we build the heart strength and emotional resilience to face the suffering that arises and get through the storm to the other side, withered but not worn.
Healing is not about self-improvement and fixing your “imperfections” but about looking at your wounds with compassionate eyes and embracing the rejected and neglected parts of you with open arms. Healing helps us face the conditioned aspects of our life, the persona or masks we wear and their associated patterns of behavior. Through our healing we may be required to peel back layers of our outer armor to reconnect with our innate being within.
When we touch the essence of our true selves we’re reconnected to the divine within us and the source of all existence. As we approach this union to our divine selves “the various powers of the soul begin to manifest: peace, light, love, joy and strength” (Cortright, 1997. P30).
When we’ve got through the bulk of healing our early years of conditioning we can do the growing. We cannot grow without fertile soil. The foundation you set through your healing is what enables you to spread your roots, unfold your petals and bloom like you never have before.
Growing is about harnessing the joy that life has to offer us. As with the sun and rain, life gives us both joy and pain- the two coexist. When we numb ourselves to pain we numb ourselves to joy. So when we bravely unlock our hearts and face the pain, we’re also open to receiving so much joy.
Growing is about creating a beautiful balance in life that is far from perfect but in harmonious flux with the natural rhythms of our lives. When you reconnect your fragmented parts and remember your worth you remember that you deserve joy, spaciousness, love and peace. And then you remember that they already reside within you, it’s just a matter of connecting to your inner most being and responding to his/her wants and needs.
What makes you feel good?
What makes you feel calm and relaxed?
What makes you feel alive and passionate?
Who makes you feel safe and heard?
Who makes you laugh from deep within your belly?
Who makes you feel loved and respected?
These are the things we pursue on our growth journey. Our growth is about consciously creating a life that you can’t wait to wake up to. Of course there are responsibilities and tasks that we feel like we have to do but don’t want to do. That’s okay, it’s always a choice. If you feel like you need or have to do something it means it’s probably still aligned to an important value you have for your life. It’s the shoulds that you want to look out for. Why should you? Who’s ideal or value is that? Do I want to compromise this time to please this person or would you like to choose to please yourself instead? We always have a choice.
What’s important is checking in with where you personally are in life and what’s important to YOU at this stage. No shoulds allowed here either. Just because spirituality is important to someone else doesn’t mean it has to be important to you when you’re focusing on your health. We may not be able to attend to all facets of our life wheel at the same time.
In my book 'Growing' I help you decipher your values, your phase of life, your priorities for this phase and what segments of your wheel of life you want to focus on. We work strategically with a 90 day plan so you can attend spaciously to your needs and desires and create lasting habits that nourish your life. Learn more about Growing -here.
You are the author of your life, how does this next chapter unfold?