Healer's Statement
What is healing anyway? Or what is it about? For me, my healing has been about getting my life back on track. Or taking my life back. I don't know whose life I was living, but it certainly wasn't mine. I spent most of my life doing what I though I was supposed to be doing. I had some sort of mental rulebook in my head as to what and when to do things. Now, in some ways my life is radically different and in some ways it doesn't look like it has changed all that much. But it is mine. And I am living it more now. I am living more moment-to-moment making decisions as they come up and not knowing what will come next. Sometimes it is scary, sometimes it is tedious and sometimes it is joyously wonderful and exciting. It is what I think living is.
Healing is about 'living the life you were meant to live'. On a practical level this often means removing or overcoming the obstacles that get in the way. Sometimes those obstacles are physical. Sometimes the obstacles are emotional. Sometimes they are tangled up in the relationships we are in. And sometimes they are other things. They seem to be unique for each individual. The things that need to be looked at are the things that slow us down or hold us back.
I was having a conversation with my friend Maria the other night. She asked me what healing was about. I told her healing is about “Helping people live the life they were meant to live.” She told me that statement was arrogant. How could I know how people were to live? I told her I didn't know how people were to live. But that they knew how they were to live. She said that's impossible, no one knows what his or her entire life purpose is. And I agreed but people usually know what the next step is. And I help them take that next step.
I am a bit like a guide in a jungle. I know my way around. I've been through it a few times and with any luck I can show you a way that is easier, quicker and safer than if you were to go it alone. I'll be there with my machete, cutting through the undergrowth and so will you. I'll have a pack on my back carrying important supplies and so will you. I will be hiking through the same territory as you as well. The advantage I'll have is experience. I know the territory, what to pack and how to pace myself. I will know where is a safe place to cross a river.