Do you really want to heal or ‘just get rid of’ your symptoms?

The difference between healing and fixing

One of the most common phrases I hear from clients is they ‘want to get rid of their symptoms’. And if I had been given a dollar every time a client asked me “Will you fix me?”, and even “Will you fix me in one session?”, I would have a lot of dollars in the bank! I have learnt (and am still learning through my own personal experience), that there is a huge difference between healing and fixing. So this is the topic of this post.

By the time people start noticing symptoms – whether it be of emotional, mental or physical pain – there will usually have been a host of factors that have occurred in that person’s life which have been a precursor to the manifestation of the actual symptoms. Unfortunately, the early warning signs that the body sent were missed. (If they had been noticed, the person would probably not be experiencing symptoms).

So what I’m getting at here, is that there are reasons for the body becoming ill, for exhibiting a state of ‘dis-ease’, and these will often be a host of factors including poor lifestyle habits, perpetuation of stress, negative thinking, traumatic events -  in fact, anything which the body finds detremental to a good state of health. The bottom line is, if our mind, emotions and body are not in an inner state of harmony, this puts too much of a load on the various body systems, and it can only handle the extra load for so long. At some point, the body is going to say “That’s it, I’ve had enough, I cannot handle what is going on, I’m now going to get your attention by screaming at you with symptoms’.

At this point, most people seem surprised! This only goes to show just how much we are out of touch with what is going on inside our body. The signs were there, we just missed them.

So, if what has been happening in our lives, and the habits and patterns we have created, have brought us to this point, we can now start to see that illness is an OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE. We could say that ‘illness is a healthy reaction to an unhealthy situation’. And as the old saying goes, ‘The definiton of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result’.

Then, it starts to make sense that healing goes far beyond just ‘getting rid of symptoms’. We are being asked to change: our habits, our lifestyle, and most importantly our awareness of ourselves. One of my teacher’s favourite sayings is ‘The Key to healing is awareness’. Once we are aware of what it is we are doing or have done that have led up to illness, we then have CHOICE over where to go from here. Awareness brings choice.

So yes, you can undergo therapy or treatment to relieve your symptoms, but if you don’t learn why they were there in the first place, the likelyhood is they will come back again, or be replaced by another set of symptoms. The choice is yours. Which would you prefer? Do you want to learn and grow and change, or do you want to go back to where you were to start with and stay exactly the same?

True healing involves delving a lot deeper than just expecting someone to ‘fix’ you and your symptoms. It involves getting actively involved in your healing process so that you learn why your body has become ‘dis-eased’. The additional benefit of this is that as you start to do this, you become less preoccupied with eradicating symptoms and more interested in your own healing journey and what I call ‘the bigger picture of life’. You start to see that you are actually on this earth to EVOLVE, to change, to transform, and ultimately to become a better you.

Learning to see illness and health from a different perspective changes everything. Paradoxically, once we start to take more responsibility for our health and healing journey, a space opens up inside for healing to occur. This could never have happened if we had been solely focused on eradicating symptoms.  Understanding the true meaning of healing – ‘to become whole’ – is a true gift which each person who understands it will cherish.

I wish you well on your healing journey!