I am always curious as to why some people manage to heal and others don’t. For more than fifteen years, Caroline Myss has studied why some people heal, while others do not. In her previous book, Anatomy of the Spirit, Dr. Myss illuminated the hidden interactions of belief and body, soul and cell to show how, as she inimitably puts it, “your biography becomes your biology.”
In this new book, she builds on her earlier teachings of the seven different energy centres of the body to provide a vital self-healing program for physical and spiritual disorders.
This excerpt below really spoke to me and reinforces my own belief that we must maintain a spiritual practice, whatever that means for the individual.
The human Spirit requires daily nurturing through a spiritual practice such as prayer or meditation. The practices nourish the energy system and help unite mind, heart and spirit.
A spiritual practice is not the same thing, however, as living in a healthy way. Following either one path or the other does not accomplish both goals simultaneously. A healthy life includes getting enough exercise and the proper nutrition, avoiding toxic substances, and maintaining other conscious living habits. Healthy living, according to even the most stringent of rules, does not insure that an illness will not develop, however, but it certainly reduces the chances.
A healthy lifestyle helps you learn more about what your body requires for maximum physical well-being, and a spiritual practice furthers your understanding of the role the DIVINE plays in your life.
It reveals the path you are meant to walk. Although a spiritual practice can help your spirit grow and improve your overall health by grounding and directing you to healthful, non destructive behaviours, neither is it a guarantee of perfect health.
As we have seen, it may even challenge you to endure an illness as the vehicle through which inspiration and a deeper sense of the power of your spirit can emerge.
When an illness is a part of your spiritual journey, no medical intervention can heal you until your spirit has begun to make the changes that the illness was designed to inspire. Medical intervention, integrative therapies, healing modalities, changes in nutrition, and overall lifestyle may all help to some extent and should certainly be used. But the most effective healing option, when you are facing an illness as a spiritual challenge, is to rely on your spiritual practice to bring you the insights you need for your next steps.
Your practice can be a means of enduring the disease and healing it through increasing the strength and wisdom of your spirit – or it can prepare you for the release of your life, if that is the divine will for you. You need to redirect your faith from the physical to the spiritual realm.
So how can we do this?
- Learn to Meditate. Learn how to calm your mind, still your body, and open the doorway to the joy of your soul. Learn meditation.
- Practice gratitude and loving kindness to yourself. – I honestly believe that if we are serious about becoming more conscious and aware then it is vital to do a simple daily practice of mindfulness or meditation. Otherwise, it is like driving with the handbrake on – what a waste of energy!
- Gratitude opens the heart. Lovingkindness fills it. Say thank you to everything and for everything. Be kind to yourself in the simple ways that really matter.
- Practice surrendering to your higher power. – Surrender is letting go of attachment to the outcome. It is not giving up or giving in.
To summarise, if you wish to raise your consciousness I suggest that you ask for guidance all the time. Make gratitude a way of life. Commit to being kind to yourself every day. Start doing a short meditation or mindfulness practice every day. You will see the benefits in your life in less than eight weeks. Practice surrendering to a higher power and let life unfold in its amazing way without trying to control the details. Relax. Let go. Don’t take it all so seriously! Jump in and……. enjoy the ride