Self Healing and Awareness

"If self-healing is all about 'feeling the love,' then why do I feel so crummy?"

One of the first things that tends to happen when a person really gets in touch with their capacity for self-healing is that they develop a very keen eye for everything they appear to do "wrong." There's sometimes even a temporary sense of self-defeat as a person begins to see clearly the common mistakes in their thoughts and actions.

For example...

• A person whose healing process from neck pain includes lifting into an upright posture suddenly notices how much they slouch.
• Someone who's minimizing sweets to stabilize their blood sugar suddenly notices how automatic their "treat as reward" wiring is.
• Someone learning to meet their own needs first to stem an energy hemorrhage may notice an exceptionally strong compulsion to please others.
• A person whose healing process from hopelessness and depression involves becoming more objective about things they previously would have taken personally may feel that people are "coming at them" from all directions.

It's kind of like that phenomenon of the lime-green Volkswagen Beetle. You get the "bug" for a lime-green Beetle, thinking it will be completely unique on the road. Next time you drive to work, you see no less than three of them between home and the office. Where did they all come from?

Your attention for lime-green Beetles has been elevated. Now that you're looking for them, you notice them everywhere.

Here's the question, though. Are there really a lot more lime-green Volkswagen Beetles on the road today than there were yesterday? No, of course not. The difference is you. Now you're looking for them. Yesterday, you weren't.

Same thing with how you're suddenly noticing all these so-called faults. You were doing all that stuff anyway before. Now you've had a breakthrough burst of awareness. You've suddenly seen the light about how something you were doing anyway contributed to a problem you don't want to have.

This is extremely cool news!

You were doing the behavior anyway. In the past you were oblivious. Not only did you not recognize the cost of the behavior to your health and well-being, you weren't really aware you were doing it. Now you've begun to entertain a connection between the target behavior and a result you don't want. In the past, you had nary a clue about how this unwanted situation came to rear its ugly head in your life. Now you're tuned in.

Pat yourself on the back. This is great! Awareness of the process is a huge step in the direction of healing it! Put differently, your chances of healing a troubling symptom or situation are next to nothing until you begin to work out what's causing it. Now you know.

"You may not be able to fix it, but at least you can own it."

Granted, you've still got a ways to go. Awareness alone is generally not enough. But it is truly a huge step. At the very least, you'll no longer be tempted to unintentionally deceive yourself by pretending you don't know where the challenge is coming from.

Ultimately, you'll begin to develop some strategies for dealing with this newfound awareness.

• Our slouching friend with the neck pain will learn a new habit of lifting to her full height.
• Mr. Sweet-Seeker may try substituting nuts for candy, or even begin to learn about non-food options for self-care.
• An energy leak can be stemmed by distinguishing that self-approval is preferable to approval by others. (Ultimately that certain others will come to admire self-approval directly, though it may involve finding a healthier group of friends.)
• The Objectivity Seeker will come to realize that people do things for their own reasons, not simply to irritate her.

You will develop your process, too. For today, though, try this. Bring yourself up to your full height. Take your right hand and cross it over your left shoulder. Give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Healing awareness rocks!

Elizabeth Eckert coaxes, cajoles, and gently guides the creation of healing intent. She's the founder of http://www.wordcures.com and author of Word Cures: How to Keep Stupid Excuses From Sabotaging Your Health. Align your whole self for health ... starting today! Share "Arielle's" real-life story: The power of positive healing intention.