Self Healing? Self Healed!
By Kristen N. Fox
All healing is self-healing. That is, you are the one who decides whether or not to accept the healing, whether it appears to come from outside of you in the form of a doctor, a Reiki master, herbs, or pills, or whether it seems to come from the inside by means of an energetic or “spontaneous” healing. In many ways, healing can be said to be one of the most empowering dramas we can experience – realizing that we really CAN change our lives. Just look at the prolific use of the word healing in any new age community you come across; you can’t swing an aromatherapy candle without hitting someone focused on HEALING. Healing herbs, healing sounds and vibrations, healing angels, healing beliefs, healing energy, healing aromas, healing seminars, healing systems, healing devices, healing old wounds, healing emotional trauma, healing karmic debt, healing finances, healing relationships, healing the earth, healing the spirit…
The ‘healing’ process many of us are undergoing is one of realigning oneself with our ‘higher’ selves, or whatever words or framework you want to use to describe it. Whether it also means healing our feelings, or our spine, or our finances, the physical manifestation of our alignment happens in different ways for each of us. And sometimes it seems that this process can go on forever – you think you’ve “arrived” because you feel so much better than you did before, only to see that you’re actually in ANOTHER bus heading towards yet ANOTHER destination. You may find you have more repressed feelings about your relationship with your mother, or suddenly your back starts acting up, or you lose a bunch of money that you’d just created, etc.
But something happens during this up and down process. Gradually, we start to find ourselves again. In the middle of these conditions that are constantly shifting about and challenging our sense of identity, we start to realize that WE are not these conditions. And that WE are the ones who choose them or let them fall by the wayside. In this way, the essence of healing, is of coming back to your center and knowing yourself as CONNECTED. Connected to SELF. Who you really are.
This is the same basic path as empowering yourself as a conscious creator. Healing is simply another word or mindset for ‘creating’. You have created the dis-eased condition (whether consciously or unconsciously) and then you create a new, easeful condition for yourself by re-aligning your energy with a more desired expression. We don’t often think in terms of creating ourselves as experiencing sinus congestion and then creating free, unobstructed breathing, yet it is the same.
The “healing” mindset can be said to be a focus on bringing the self back to ‘health’, which is usually a basic standard of ability or certain parameters considered ‘normal’. But part of this self-healing (healing the self) is realizing our own personal set of standards, desires, and beliefs for our bodies and for our lives. At this point, you have reconnected or realigned with SELF, and no one else can tell how you should be or feel or look, because you KNOW yourself. And through the process of coming back to ourselves, we realize that our desires and inspirations CHANGE from one moment to the next – no wonder we never seem to “arrive” – looking through the ‘healing’ focus, it may seem like you’ll never get there because you keep changing the destination!
Like any artist, what you happily paint today is often set aside tomorrow for a new project. I think our very nature as creative, spontaneous individuals precludes resting on our “healed” laurels for long. “Oh,” some might say, “but that’s a long way off! There’s so much yet to do and fix!” Perhaps. But here’s another perspective: If you focus on the state of BEING HEALED as perpetually somewhere in the FUTURE, then that’s where it will stay. What’s to prevent us from deciding that right NOW we are healed? That right NOW we are connected and realigned and empowered? “But my knee still hurts!” “I still have issues!” Perhaps, perhaps not.
As many counselors will tell you, there comes a time when enough therapy is enough. You can still search out things about yourself, your body, or your life that you want to “fix” or change, but you may actually be creating more dis-ease simply because that’s what you’re used to doing and expecting!
If you didn’t have something to ‘fix’ or ‘figure out’ about yourself, how would you feel? Would you feel that you must simply be overlooking something? Would you feel like you were being somewhat SMUG to think you were ‘done’? Would you feel a little lost or unsure as to what to do next? Are you looking for someone else, a guru, teacher, discarnate entity, a doctor to tell you when you’ve had or healed enough? Why?
It may sound simplistic, but not only are you the only one who can know when you are ‘healed’, but you can decide at any time to be DONE with that mode of focus. This is empowerment – when you know you are the one who gets to decide. I’m not advising anyone to force the issue just to try to get it over with, but I AM advocating that each person look inside, and be honest with yourself about where you are in your process at the moment. Are you looking for another thing to heal because its a comfortable routine or because you feel it is the best course for you?
There is life after therapy and life after healing. I heard someone suggest once that when we’re done healing ourselves and realigning ourselves, that’s when we ‘die’ or go back to our energy essence forms. While I think self-healing is a wonderful thing to come to physical reality to accomplish, there’s SO MUCH MORE for us to do here – things we haven’t even conceived of yet! Perhaps when the healing is done, that’s when the creating starts!
So start dreaming! Start visualizing yourself being exactly where you want to be instead of simply trying to catch up with yourself. Start seeing your healing as creating yourself new in every moment – FEEL how you want to be.
In the words of many a television evangelist, “You are HEALED!” Believe it!
[Originally published in The Edge, March 2000.]