Healing is not about getting 'better'...

"If you listen to your body when it whispers, you won't have to hear it scream."

~Unknown

I've always referred to healing as 'getting better'...

When you are sick or afflicted, and then you take action to get well, you hope to get better, right? But better than what state? Sure, better than your sickly self, right? But as I began musing about this week's focus for my Joyous Perspective - I had to wonder if the term better is part of the reason we are afraid to take on the big healing projects.  Thinking of being in a better state is kind of a challenge to ourselves, isn't it? Consider that the synonyms for being better are words like: 

Superior

Preferrable

Higher quality

A cut above....

When you are a tired and afflicted soul, these words sound completely unattainable.

Your expectations for what should happen when you take steps to heal become ridiculous. You are looking for the better and the even better than you have ever known. Then, someplace during the process, your goals, desires and hopes fade. You might begin to think that these efforts are not worth it. You are who you are, and perhaps you should accept and learn to carry this affliction. And if others don't like it, well...

I was there a couple of years ago. In fact, a little over 18 months as of today.

The only piece of human wisdom that helped me get past the expectations of 'better' was the good old 'One day at a time' thing. I put my hopes in the theory of 'anything you can do for 21 days becomes a habit'. I wish I could tell you it did.... But I still hung by the skin of my thumbs to my determined decision to make a change and get better...

Then one day, after about six months, it hit me.

This was not about getting healthy; it was about healing.

And I changed my focus to healing myself, inside and out. But recently, I struggled again as I didn't see the kind of results I expected from my healing. It was then that I realized another tipping point: 

I don't want to get better. I want to get back to the real me.

And that's a journey of healing that requires I pay attention to what my mind, body, and spirit are telling me. 

It's in the whispers... Do you hear that?

Cheers.