Spiritual Healing
Healing pain, be it physical or just plain sadness, I find to be one of the most challenging trials of our sojourn on earth. Dealing with pain is something we have in common. Life is not easy and to assume that we should be able to somehow side step this lesson is folly, not to mention extremely naïve ~ and, the older I get, the more I believe that the reason we are here is to learn to deal with personal, physical, and emotional loss.
This past week I visited a friend in a rehabilitation facility. She has had a stroke and her left side is paralyzed. This woman has been one of the most vital Activity Directors of any of the nursing homes I have visited ~ and, I have been to quite a few, as a Minister and also, as an entertaining musician. What scares her is that aside from dementia related illnesses, the majority of people in nursing homes are stroke victims. After being of service to so many, the realization has hit her that she is in need of special services herself ~ perhaps permanently!
Another friend is going through the pain of a divorce, something that many of us have experienced ~ for some, more than once. To have someone we have loved so deeply hit us with the news that he/she no longer does, or worse, that they have found someone else to shower their affections on, is often too painful to bear. In the same vein, to realize that we made a mistake getting involved with someone who turned out not to be who we thought, is equally as painful.
The practical solution is to go within Self ~ that, along with time, is the age-old healer. Many of us know this ~ however, it is easier said than done. What does it mean, if we are in pain, to go within Self? Therein lies the problem. This form of meditative activity, focusing on the light, so to speak, requires inner and oftentimes external silence and discipline, which is difficult when the cries of pain drown out what we are trying to do.
It is even more difficult when the cries of pain are coupled with feelings of self pity (“What did I do to deserve this?”) and/or blame (“This never would have happened if it weren’t for____.”). I believe that these are the two demons that can slow our recovery because they consume our energy. Inner healing takes all the energy we can muster ~ remembering that Self needs to be selfish so as to heal Self.
Overcoming pain, as well as growing spiritually within Self, requires both patience and persistence. To think that it is easy or simple is just not true. What works for me is to first focus on what is making me angry. (I believe that anger is the source of hurt.) Then I ask to be freed from it. Then I ask, “Where can I forgive?” (The Universe does not give us the right not to forgive Self if Self is to blame.) Only then can we converse within Self, seek a calm and finally ask for healing light.
I would like to say, “It’s as simple as that” ~ however, it’s not, and that’s where the spirit of time comes in and helps clean up what we could not do ourselves.
Posted in -Barjan, Contributing Writers | April 5, 2006
April 5th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Barjan, I used to think that pain was created to be a nuisance to us for the devil’s satisfaction. I had that belief that if I denied pain, the devil wouldn’t acknowledge me to continue with his torture. So with that weak mentality, I would simply dust off pain whenever it came around to challenging my life, which also excused me to never having to confront it. Tell me that I wasn’t being naïve.
Well, pain never really came to mind that it was part of the healing process until later in life I learned otherwise. And by not accepting any burdens and my true feelings at the time, the conditions worsened me physically and emotionally, which you have stated, not to mention that it was quite a disturbance in college.
I was affected considerably connecting to my inner self, so during those years, I was pretty much disengaged from myself and all. Pain eventually caught up to me, settled in, and seeped through, as I was coming to a point of running out of things to blame. After 5 years, came the initial warm tears of surrendering to the truth (myself). Fortunately, I was able to recover my health and spirit. So right you are! I could not have side stepped this lesson.
You also mentioned that your friend is going through a divorce. Awkwardly, I too just learned today, that a friend of mine is going through the same thing, but this will be his second time. I was so stunned to have received this kind of news, since he and his wife seemed so happy together with their baby. I still can’t fathom the reality of it, but I can sense that the pain is burying him with self pity and causing a great decline in his self esteem. Gosh, this has to be tough.
Like you said Barjan, each one of us would have to reach within self to initiate healing. Yes, I agree that it is difficult to reach within, when you have other factors being produced along side. Not that they are working against you, but the nature of emotion is a force of its own strength. Healing often brings forth the urge to find ways of accepting and dealing with emotion, and the need to block out the outer environment for the time being.
We’re all surrounded with pain, which in part, we have to understand that the infliction is intended to be intimate, so we can learn how to handle without allowing it to weaken and affect too much of our inner self. After all, we need our soul to take us to the healing process.
As we witness on earth plane, life brings many unexpected events and irony. As you mentioned, when the spirit cleans up during our disable times, we can only give into the high spirit and grip onto hope, leaving less room for demons.
My sympathy goes out to both of your friends, to one who is undergoing a great deal with her health, and the other, who is parting from a loved spouse. May they heal and find peace in their hearts, and be strengthened to a comfortable recovery.
April 5th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I think also that it can be difficult to avoid going within to overcome one’s pain especially when one blames oneself for something, ie. it’s my fault he is divorcing me. I am no good, etc. These kinds of thoughts feed upon one’s lack of respect for oneself and keep one spinning in a painful cycle of avoidance, denial, anger or self pity.
April 11th, 2006 at 8:18 pm
Barjan, your final comment about patience and persistence in healing Self is so true from my experiences. And while one of Waith’s favorite statements is, “It’s as simple as that,” he also counsels that going within Self is our greatest challenge! I have found that once I have gone through whatever the experience was I had to have, I can easily say that it was that simple! However, while going through the experience, I may not have that same sentiment!
April 15th, 2006 at 10:10 pm
I believe we are given tears to cleanse our soul from the necessary pain and suffering we must all endure on this plane. I must confess that I do not like the earth plane for I am a wimp when it comes to pain, but I have also experienced healing myself, and bringing to myself a sense of spiritual wholeness because of it. When I see someone smile in the face of adversity, it gives me strength to face my own fears and my own pain, and is healing. Barjan, you are a good teacher, and I like reading your articles, for you force one to think. Thank you.