Healing vs. Cure
These concepts are integrated yet unique in their presentation. The word heal means to restore, or return to wholeness. A cure translates to a banishment or elimination of an disease or illness. We can heal without being cured, and we can be cured without being healed.
Healing, at its deepest root meaning is making whole or holy. When I embody the image of healing, I see this phenomenon as something we intentionally call forth and act upon. We are the active participants in our healing process.
As there are healers in the world from shamans, energy workers, yoga teachers and more. Ultimately we are our greatest healers.
In order to heal, it is imperative that we step into the healing space inside ourselves with heart centered intention. Healing does not work unless we are open to receive the healing in whatever form, and there are many.
To heal is to return to our intrinsic wholeness.
Nonetheless, there are life circumstances such as illness, loss, trauma and more that can leave us feeling fractured or broken. Where we feel like we lost a part of ourselves, or a sense of being broken by grief or suffering.
When I went though heavy cancer treatment in 2015 I felt beyond broken and defective. My body had betrayed me. How did I get this dis-ease? Where did it come from? Am I a unlovable, shameful person for developing such an insidious disease that was trying to annihilate me?
I went through 10 months of grueling chemotherapy. I lost my hair, my business, all my savings and part of my dignity. It was a constant assault on my body, my life and belief systems. On top of that they burned half my spine, left rib cage, left side of my face and neck with radiation. During the end of my treatment I had purple burns all over my body, no hair, thinning bones and creaky old joints from the 4 different chemo’s they pumped through my port on a weekly basis. I felt like a 90 year old woman in a 33 year olds body. I was exhausted physically, mentally and emotionally. And my soul has never been so tired and fatigued.
What the doctors were trying to do was CURE me of stage 4 cancer.
Trying to fix the disease with outside sources and treatments. I was in the process of attempting to HEAL myself. Yes, ultimately I prayed the cancer would dissolve, go away- and it did. After the cancer left my body, I was still left traumatized, confused and very sick and weak from the treatments.
I believe even after “the cure” I had to get to the root cause of my disease, or I feared it would return.
First, I do not believe cancer or any disease for that matter is solely a physical phenomenon. Often the physical manifestation is the final presentation of an illness. There is scientific evidence and qualitative data of this theory in the book, “When the body says no” by Dr. Gabor Matè. Along side other doctors and healers work I have followed such as Dolores Cannon, Louise Hay, Dr. Bruce Lipton, Dr Bernie Siegel and Dr. Joe Dispenza.
I wish I could give some sort of blueprint for a successful healing model. Ultimately healing is tough to quantify and nearly impossible to reproduce. It is subjective and a deeply personal experience between ourselves and the light of love.
Today, I have been cancer free from stage 4 terminal cancer for over 5 years. Am I cured? I would say, I do not know..but for today I am cancer free.
Am I healing? Always, everyday I connect with my healing. Cancer taught me great lessons in the resilience of the body in returning to wholeness. Cancer showed me possibilities in the the power of the mind and spirit when discovering our personal healing path and potential.
All is within.
Healing was and is a huge commitment. To this day I step into it with intention and purpose. Healing for me was messy and challenging, it still is! Also a somewhat painful process, it was essential that I had to let go of a lot of emotional garbage and fear I was holding onto in order to get well.
I faced things about myself that I didn’t want to look at and circumstances that I shoved under the rug for most of my life. These repression’s of self and my authentic being contributed to my illness. And the reclamation of my true self was the core of my healing.
It taught me to be open, explore other world views, ideas and concepts. To tap into what is sacred and holy. I worked with dozens of teachers and healers through the years that contributed and supported my healing process.
But ultimately, it was and still is my responsibility to show up to it.
Wherever you are in your healing process, be brave and have faith. Listen to your body, trust your guts and intuition and seek support. Healing is a practice. A inner quest for truth and understanding.
To heal, is to REMEMBER your wholeness. The act of coming home to the center of your being, the remembrance of your holiness and uniqueness.
Your self, your true nature is already whole, therefore already healed.
“If we would heal, it is essential to begin the painfully incremental task of reversing the biology of belief we adopted very early in life. Whatatever external treatment is administered, the healing agent lies within.”- Gabor Mate
“Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that isn’t you – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who you are.”- Dr. Bernie Siegel
“People don’t realize the power their own mind has to cure itself. The subconscious can be very literal with the physical symptoms it uses to deliver the messages. If more people became aware of this, they could listen to what their body is trying to tell them.” -Dolores Cannon.