A Time To Heal

Give your­self time to heal. It takes time and cer­tain types of effort. Heal­ing is some­thing we take for granted, but it is some­thing the body does con­stantly. The mind and soul have their ver­sions of it too. We are mostly aware of the body. Bruises slowly fade. Cells replace them­selves. Small scars remind us of our clum­si­ness and close calls. The really big scars are there to remind us of the surg­eries that have extended our earthly lives.

Men­tal heal­ing is one of let­ting time take us through the grief cycle. The pat­tern is basi­cally the same — no mat­ter what or who has hurt us or even how much: denial, anger, bar­gain­ing, depres­sion, and finally accep­tance. Some­times it is fast, but most of the time it is a slow process. You can­not hurry it along. It has its own pace. No two peo­ple have exactly the same style of mov­ing through it. Ninety per­cent of coun­sel­ing has to do with some aspect of grief. As the old say­ing goes, “To grieve well is to live well.”

Spir­i­tual heal­ing is my favorite. It is two steps removed from the body and one step from the mind. It affects the body and mind, and is the most impor­tant of the three but also the most neglected. We quickly ban­dage a cut to stop the bleed­ing. We call a friend when our feel­ings are hurt and reach for the ice cream or other com­fort food, but we let the wounded spirit dan­gle in the wind. Atti­tu­di­nal heal­ing is how we “get our act together.” It is neglected because it takes time and a lit­tle bit of tech­nique. The symp­to­matic need for heal­ing is seen in our pes­simism, neg­a­tiv­ity, and con­trol mad­ness. The spirit of a per­son or a nation can be crushed. It can also be resurrected.

The heal­ing motto is: “First, do no harm” (pro­tect that which needs to heal and do not add to its prob­lems). Stop talk­ing to your­self neg­a­tively. Pro­tect your­self from hos­tile input. Find nature again. Seek soli­tude. For­give. Be still. Pray. Reflect. Delib­er­ately take time to heal the spirit. Spir­i­tual pain seeks to be passed along. Let it end with you. Inflict it on no one else. Extend heal­ing to oth­ers when pos­si­ble. Most of all, embrace the mys­ter­ies of spir­i­tual heal­ing from the Great Healer of Souls.