What does healing mean to you?

I have been asked this very question many times throughout my continued education journey. What comes to mind when you hear the word “healing”? Does an image of a bruise, scrape or other more severe wound being cleaned, treated, bandaged in order to mend or heal come into mind? Do they mere mention of the word “healing” conjure up a picture of emotional trauma, grief, sadness or perhaps a broken heart? Do you envision something or someone who needs fixing?

I have explored multiple definitions of healing. Webster’s defines “healing” as “tending to cure, soothing, mollifying” or “the act or process of curing, or of restoring to health”. The American Heritage dictionary is “to restore (a person) to spiritual wholeness”.

I found it to be very remarkable that I didn’t find any reference to “change” as I was looking at dictionary definitions, in my opinion healing is all about creating change-changing from one state to another-wounded to cured, sad to content, traumatized to stable, broken to whole.

If you’ve been brought up with a firm belief that medicine can cure everything that’s wrong with the body, you are missing out on an opportunity to reverse-engineer the problem and address the cause.The body doesn’t lie! But is the sensation that you are experiencing purely a physical manifestation? The soul communicates through the body. It is a well-known fact that your thoughts and emotions directly affect the health of your body. What goes on in our thoughts and emotions is profound and affects our physical bodies. The awareness of how the mind, body, and spirit work together gives you the information you need to make the decisions that will guide you on a healing path. It is not without intention to open up and develop a path of communication to your inner self. I chose to meditate, journal, or take a walk to reflect on my life experiences and nurture awareness that will bring forth a healing presence.

In some instances healing seems fairly black and white. The physical realm of healing is well-known and recognized. For instance, we all know that a broken bone needs to be set back in place in order to mend and become whole again. However, there are many classifications of healing that involve an extensive grey area, where it is not clear cut. For instance, Are you drawn to :”heal” someone’s broken heart so that they can be happier, or would you like to heal the grief that your best friend is experiencing after the sudden passing of her child? Some emotional and psychological pain are not only difficult for the person experiencing it but for those around them.

Emotional wounds are something that we have all experienced at some point in our lives and only a few of us have came to realization of how to mend these wounds. I have noticed that the majority of us carry places within us where we were deeply wounded. This could stem from childhood, those “lovely” adolescent years, or something that has made a profound effect. Psychological cleansing involves understanding, accepting, forgiving and releasing negative emotions. Negative emotions link you back to the physical plane. How do we heal these wounds? This is not as complicated as it sounds. When you learn to love, respect and take care of yourself, you will heal your physical and emotional wounds naturally.

What I have found in all my years on Earth is that the more I step back from the problem, the more the solution becomes apparent.This can be applied to pain or problems on any level-physical, emotional, spiritual or mental. Our first response is often is to dive into that pain or problem and fight it or resist. As hard as it may be, if you pull your attention out of that area of pain you will be in a better position to find a way to relieve it and heal yourself.

The true meaning of “healing” is to do the work of becoming whole. It’s the only way to find the strength to do the uncomfortable, bold, authentic things you want to do.

Take a look for yourself-what does healing truly mean to you?