Many of us have something we want to heal, be it chronic illness, depression, anxiety, or some other physical or mental disorder that makes us feel trapped. But often, the idea of healing and transforming sounds overwhelming; sometimes, even impossible.
We’ve grown up believing that doctors and pain medication are the only way to treat our pain and discomfort, and when they tell us we have slim chances of surviving certain conditions, or that we’ll be on medication for the rest of our lives, we believe them.
Typically, we aren’t raised with the awareness that we have some innate abilities and inner power to heal ourselves (our bodies are miraculous), so once we get a diagnosis, we feel powerless to change. We get stuck in the prognoses instead of tapping into our fortitude. It then becomes natural to begin thinking negatively about our health and get stuck in the pain and grief of our illness, slowly shutting off hope and possibility.
The truth is that we have an unbelievable power to heal and if we focus our attention on thriving with what is, instead of pressuring ourselves to heal or simply becoming the victim of our circumstances, then our healing path can start to unfold.
What Does it Take to Thrive?
Learning to thrive is easier said than done, in most cases. How can we thrive if we’re constantly in fear and pain and the only action we’re taking is numbing or distracting ourselves from the choices and possibilities we have?
Learning to thrive in spite of what we have so we can heal starts with making a few key decisions.
Thriving Begins with Listening
Thriving with dis-ease begins with listening. We first need to listen to what our bodies are telling us before we can take informed action towards healing.
It’s important to remember that God speaks to us through our body. When we have pain, it is a divine message calling for change. If we don’t take the time to listen to these messages, we won’t be able to discern what the potential underlying cause is, which could be any of the following:
- Relationships that need tending to
- Old ways of being and reacting that are no longer serving you
- Conditioned ways of showing up that give away your power
Listening is powerful, but it requires courage and willingness. Many of us choose not to listen, for fear of what the answers about our dis-ease might reveal. We might have to come to terms with our own role in our discomfort and see a side of ourselves we’re not comfortable with.
But if we don’t listen to the subtle messages our bodies send us, we eventually end up getting hit over the head to get the picture. And listening to everyone but ourselves results in more medication, more confusing opinions from doctors, and more helplessness around our dis-ease.
The next time you need an opinion about your health, knock gently on your own door instead. Your pain is yours, and it is your guide. It has been talking to you, and it has something to say.
Practice self-inquiry and truly listen to what it is telling you. When we connect within and listen deeply, we can take the steps we need and write the next chapter of our story. Don’t be afraid to enter into the darker parts of yourself – when we hold both our darkest shadows and our brightest light in the same loving embrace, healing happens.
To Thrive, We Must Learn to Relax
Healing only happens when we are in relaxation mode. Our bodies have the miraculous ability to heal given the right environment. When we are present, clear, and connected, we open up the door to our healing.
This is why it’s important not to focus directly on the healing, but the environment that allows it to transpire – thriving. Staying focused on listening to our intuition, following its guidance, and staying committed to a daily meditation practice gives us the ability to thrive, and keeps us aligned with our truth.
When we meditate and integrate breathwork into our daily routine, we create a prescription of wellness for ourselves. We balance our autonomic nervous system, which plays a vital role in our body’s ability to heal. We can’t achieve wellness if we aren’t taking good care of our mind, body, and spirit.
To thrive, we must create an environment of wellness for ourselves, one where we are surrounded by loving and supportive people, and where we are routinely tapping into our body’s innate ability to heal.
What Would Thriving Really Mean for Us?
Choosing to thrive rather than heal our dis-ease means we have some choices to make. If we really want to thrive, what patterns, thoughts or fears do we have to let go of? What kind of person would we need to be?
First, we would need to be open to the idea that pain is our guide. We need to realize that deep down, we are responsible for what has led to our pain and that it needs to be confronted. There are many people who know exactly what to change in order to thrive in their situation but still refuse, out of fear. But fear is what ultimately causes our dis-ease and our suffering, therefore, we need to be open to confronting it.
Pain is life’s way of showing us what we need to change. Thriving means we are partnering with our pain, and letting it show us what needs to be done in order to heal.
Second, we need to let go of old, conditioned beliefs about ourselves. Many of us don’t believe in our ability to heal. We have conditioned ourselves to believe our limited thoughts and give ourselves permission to live in complacency and become smaller versions of ourselves.
In order to thrive, we must reframe and rewrite our perspective of ourselves. We have to ask important questions about the way we see ourselves, like:
- What beliefs do I have about my body’s ability to heal itself?
- Who would I be without this struggle, pain, or illness?
- Am I able to love and accept whatever arises, or do I resist it?
- If I were to know, what beliefs do I carry about my illness?
- If there was a perceived benefit to being sick, what would it be?
- Am I willing to give up what I gain from being sick, to become well?
Third, we would need to realize our dis-ease is a powerful gift. Realizing our dis-ease is a gift, rather than a setback, gives us the ability to thrive.
Dis-ease does not define who we are. It has given us the opportunity to reframe our pain, to learn how to alter the path we’ve been on for the better. It gives us tremendous insight into how we’ve been living our lives, and who we’ve been listening to – our ego or our innate wisdom?
It restores our inner sight so we can see ourselves for who we really are, rather than the grim reflection our ego shows when we stare into its dark mirror. It restores our ability to love ourselves and to see ourselves for who we truly are.
Let Go, and Let God
We will never win if we are at war with our bodies. Ultimately, we need to learn to let go of control and let God. We need to surrender ourselves to the unknown, and focus more on thriving than on being a workhorse, forcing ourselves into the two extremes – healing or deadness.
When we connect with our inner guru, we find immense love and support, and love is the true healer.
