I am attempting to convey the vastness experience of self-healing. It is not a matter of “Can you cure heart disease?” as if “curing” were the only option. We want to keep “curing” on the table … and, we want to add an array of other options, that are, in fact even better than curing.
I can offer instruction (in self-healing) that, if followed will produce improvements in health that almost everyone finds richly satisfying. So good that participants derive benefit from their practices for the rest of their lives.
Here’s an illustration of the superiority of self-healing over “cures”. Most folks think of a cure as restoring them to the way they were before they got ill. Similar to getting a car repaired. its the way it was before it broke.
Basically, it means your symptoms went away, or you lost the weight, your energy returned, etc.
However you remain with the same self-judging voice in your head, you eat the same allergenic foods or amounts of sugar and coffee and wine. You still slouch, deprive yourself of precious breath, argue, need to be right, judge other people, can’t listen compassionately. In short, you go back to the same quality of life and ways of caring for yourself as you experienced before you became ill. A way of living that is inseparable from and causative of the illness you had before you found a “cure”.
What I just described is the greatest of all outcomes for the person infected with the false belief that “cures” exist. Consider the common outcome of a cancer “survivor”. A person is considered cured of their cancer if they survive for 5 years after undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. One’s health is hardly returned to the level it was before these treatments and by no means can they be said to be back to normal.
Many patients with severe illness do not end up completely healed. They may continue to take medications (albeit fewer and lower doses) They may still have symptoms (again, fewer and less severe) and yes, some die. Nearly all mature into a level of health they had never before experienced nor imagined possible for themselves.
The large majority of my patients are sincerely grateful for what they have learned. Most would describe it as life changing. They have learned practical ways to care for themselves, eating regimens, workouts, self-reflective practices, relationship skills; they are better masters of their thoughts, words, and actions. They master themselves using extraordinary kindness. They are happier, more calm and relaxed, sleep better, enjoy inhabiting their body.. the list is endless, truly.
There is a big downside to self-healing, namely, the price. The currency of self-healing is not money. Money cannot buy whatever the power is that enables us to heal our self-destructive ways of living.
Ask yourself what you would call the power or powers that produce healthier behavior and healthier results? What character qualities will be required for you to … fill in the blank. Is it: stop drinking coffee? Improve your endurance 50%? Swim twice as fast as you do now?
We all face the same, one challenge of building our character, cultivating virtue, and overcoming destructive habits. It is the most difficult of all work.
As Goethe said, speaking of nature and of health:
The man who cannot appreciate her,
she despises
And only to the apt, the pure, and the true
does she resign herself
and reveal her secrets.
Love,
Charley
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