Browse Tag by Spiritual Awakening
Chronic Illness, Communities of Care, Disability, Facing Challenge, Healing, Peace, Personal Growth, Resilience, Trauma, Wellness

Three Lies We Tell About Health & Healing

While in community recently, I had the eye-opening opportunity to witness many misconceptions about healing and the healing process. Sadly, many so-called healers even hold these beliefs, and perpetuate them to their clients and the broader community. I decided to share these misconceptions here and also share what I’ve learned to be true.

Misconception #1: “If you live with a disease, you are unhealthy. If you are physically “well,” you are healthy.

Health is more than the absence of disease. You might have heard this statement before, or seen it floating around the internet. It’s worth reflecting on. Health is more than just being free of disease in the physical body, and it’s not a one-time event that happens and lasts forever. Health is the sum of all the factors of our lives that intersect and form our well-being. How are your relationships? Do you feel held in community? Are you fulfilled and satisfied with how you spend your days? Are your material needs being met? How are you treated in the broader society in which you live? Do you reside in a safe and supportive environment? Do you live in a state of chronic stress? What is your relationship to your past; are you living in unforgiveness or bitterness?

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Facing Challenge, Personal Growth, Self-care, Spiritual Awakening

The Crucible: How the COVID-19 Pandemic Experience is Like the Spiritual Awakening Process

Yesterday I had the realization that many aspects of this COVID-19 pandemic experience are similar to what it’s like to go through the process of spiritual awakening.

To be called into a spiritual awakening usually entails finding yourself in some kind of retreat from the world you’ve known. As you go deeper into the process, there are periods where you can feel like you’ve been closed off in a solitary interior room, for a time frame that you have no control over. Some people are actually physically isolated from others during the process, whether by leaving a familiar community, loss of relationships, or by undergoing a drastic change in life direction. Sometimes illness is the cause of this retreat from “normal life.” The temporary isolation is necessary and protective.

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