Empowerment and Healing

“Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.”  -Tori Amos

            I have always believed the body has an amazing ability to heal itself. It is designed to bring itself back into balance, and to fight off external threats. If we do not maintain it properly, then these abilities certainly can be compromised.

            Another factor affecting our capacity for self-healing is the power that, in our culture, has been given over to the medical profession. Before there were doctors, even tribal people had a sense of what was wrong when someone was ill. They also were adept at somehow knowing the natural remedies that would help. They drew upon their own intuition and the wisdom of the group.

So many of us have tuned out, or never tuned in to, our own intuitive connection with our bodies. If something goes wrong, it seems natural to go to the doctor and see what he/she has to say. We assume the doctor is correct and so we follow the advice given. Fortunately often the doctor is right and the advice is sound.

            Far too often, however, the doctor cannot be certain, and healing is a matter of trial and error. We may end up taking medications we do not really need, and sometimes that in itself creates additional problems.

            Whether the doctor is right or wrong, there is still the problem that we have abdicated our role in our own healing. This is counterproductive, even dangerous, particularly if we have a serious illness. We need to have a sense of power over our illness, and the ability to use our body/mind to make ourselves better.

            It is easy to be afraid of illness, and to feel vulnerable when we are sick. This is particularly true if we have been given a disturbing diagnosis. I am always reminded of what Dr.Bernie Seigel has said in his book, Love, Medicine and Miracles: you can give me a diagnosis, but not a prognosis. In other words, you can tell me what I have, but you cannot tell me how long I have to live, or how far my healing will progress.

            The body/mind system is intricately connected and very complex. There has been much research on how our own thoughts, or even the prayers or healing thoughts of others on our behalf, can affect our healing.

            If we think the worst and assume we will not get better, this has a profound effect on all of our inner healing systems. Keep thinking those thoughts and they become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The mind thinks that it is a forgone conclusion and nothing will help, so soon the body just gives up.

            If instead we empower ourselves by believing the body is designed to heal itself, and feel a strong sense of our own power to heal, then everything is different. The immune system is stronger, we have a more positive outlook, and are more likely to do many things to help ourselves.

            Dr. Seigel says the people who are most likely to recover from illness are the ones who do as many different things as they can to support their healing. The may utilize traditional medicine, alternative therapies, support groups, make dietary changes, do visualization, hypnosis or prayer, take vitamins, or use a multitude of other strategies too numerous to list.

            Remember, even is someone does try to give you a prognosis, they will never say there is a one-hundred percent chance you will not make it. Even if it were ninety percent, it is better to visualize yourself being in the ten percent who get well, and do everything you can to support that belief. Remember, whatever the diagnosis, there are always individuals who beat the odds.

Strive to be one of them.

Gwen Randall-Young is a psychotherapist in private practice and the author of Growing Into Soul: The Next Step In Human Evolution. For articles, and information about her books and  personal growth/ hypnosis CDs go to www.gwen.ca  See display ad this issue.

gwendall@shaw.ca