Friday, November 21, 2008

Healing Starts with Compassion

If part of your body is not working properly—a sore back, drop in energy, broken toe, chronic pain, or frozen shoulder—do you want it to be fixed or healed? The attitude that you bring greatly affects the process and outcome. What's the difference?

When I think of fixing something, I remember my dad working on the car, his coveralls oily and knuckles knicked. He returned from the garage triumphant after restoring order to that darn (although I don't think that's the word he used) part.

Healing has a different character. I think of an army medic attending to a wounded soldier, his blood-stained hands administering aid as his gaze and words convey assurance.

The basic difference is compassion, the foundation of any healing process. The very idea of fixing has an adversarial component. Healing is cooperative and supportive.

Furthermore, fixing may restore to the original state, while healing allows for a situation that is better than new. A broken bone heals to be stronger than the original structure. A fixed frozen shoulder makes it possible to resume former activities, while a healed frozen shoulder brings a new sense of relationship between the arm, shoulder and spine and even greater awareness and range of motion than enjoyed before.

When part of your body is "broken" consider carefully how you approach the situation. That part is actually You and will probably respond to compassion and healing more satisfactorily than a challenge.

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