My mind used to completely go on a bend when I would hear the words ‘spiritual healing’. I also, like many, misunderstood what it meant to heal spiritual aspects of ourselves. It sounded way out there. In fact, that is true for many people, who associate spirituality with woo-woo stuff that might have no relevance to their daily existence.
What is spiritual healing though? Well, let’s first put things in context by explaining what the word ‘spiritual’ means.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it refers to something that is ‘non-material’, something that is ‘unseen’ or ‘psychological’ or ‘inner’. Other texts refer to the spiritual as the ‘ethereal’ or ‘mystical’ or any of the words that may mean that something is not physical or tangible or cannot be deciphered with our five (5) physical senses.
So, with that definition in mind, it follows then that spiritual healing means healing the aspects of ourselves that are unseen, non-material, or non-physical. It then begs the question once again, what are those unseen aspects of ourselves that could potentially need healing? Our emotions, our thoughts, our feelings, our beliefs, our patterns, our habits, our behaviors, and our programming all emanate from or reside within aspects of ourselves that are unseen. These are aspects of ourselves we call our energy. By now it is common knowledge that our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and patterns contribute tremendously to our mental health. Yet, we cannot see or touch our thoughts, and emotions, nor can we control our habits and patterns with our bare hands. All of that happens within our minds, our hearts and souls.
When I first embarked on my spiritual journey I didn’t consider that healing was going to be the biggest part of that journey. All I knew was that I had problems and that my problems needed solutions. Little did I know that my problems were manifesting as a result of the wounded aspects of myself.
My healing commenced when I first learned and made the connection between my thought patterns and my problems. I had never considered that the way I thought and felt regarding any subject at all in my life, was the reason why I was so unhappy and unfulfilled. I just thought I was unhappy because of other people, circumstances, and situations in my life which I thought I had little or no control over.
I was taught that to change anything at all, I would have to first look at my thoughts and beliefs about the things I wanted to change. Why, because the process of creation and manifestation begins first with ‘thought’. It’s first thoughts, words, and actions, which when repeated over and over create beliefs, patterns, habits, and deep subconscious programming. And when we have repeated our habits and patterns enough, and these are now deeply programmed in our psyche, our actions become autonomic. We see ourselves acting or behaving in certain ways and we don’t understand why we behave that way. And when we don’t understand why we are bound to repeat the same behaviors and actions over and over, we then conclude that that’s just how we are.
You see, everything originates from thought. We manifest the things we think about, whether we know it or not, whether we believe it or not. It’s Universal law. If we think thoughts of lack repeatedly enough over decades, we will manifest lack in our lives. If we predominantly think empowering thoughts over a prolonged period, we will manifest a life of happiness and abundance, granted.
It was Albert Einstein who said “You cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.” which essentially means you would have to literally change your thought process about a subject which you want to heal. This was baffling to me because I used to think ‘Well my thoughts are my thoughts and I cannot change them, and my beliefs are my beliefs and there’s nothing I can do to change my beliefs around anything’. Boy, was I wrong!
I would like you to pause and think about that for a little bit. Have you ever considered why you think or believe the things you believe? Where do those thoughts or beliefs come from? Let me give you an example of one of the many beliefs I used to have that landed me in a place where I was so miserable in life; I used to believe that success looked like being a boss in an organization; getting paid a big fat salary; buying a house(s); driving expensive cars; working until I retired at around 60 years or so, and then spending my retirement years living in a farm somewhere, where I would spend the rest of my life, waiting to die. It turns out everything I ever did was perpetuated by that belief. So I would work hard, and break my back, sacrifice my soul, & sometimes do things that were not aligned with my values and principles, just so I could climb the corporate ladder, just so I could buy THE CAR, or THE HOUSE, and take my kids to certain schools, etc, you get my drift here. Not to say there’s anything wrong with wanting those things. It’s just that the way I went about it was draining the living lights out of my soul.
The irony is I never used to question where I got that belief from because I thought well that’s just how things are. That’s what everybody seems to be doing or aspiring to do. Until I did all those things and shit. still. didn’t. work. I mean I still didn’t get my promised ‘happily ever after’, instead I was always exhausted and miserable asf. It was in my painful moments when I was forced to examine all my beliefs around success, money, meaningful work, and purpose.
I realized that more often than not, our thoughts and beliefs aren’t even ours. I thought I needed to do all those things to ‘succeed’ because that’s what society tells us. I was taught that success is getting a university degree, getting a job, and striving to climb the corporate ladder until I retired. I realised at the height of my suffering, that I was digging myself into a hole that I was never going to be able to get out of unless I paused to reevaluate things. For me to begin to heal that belief, I had to first re-examine my internal dialogue. The things I kept telling myself about success, where did they all come from? were the thoughts even mine, or did I buy into someone else’s definition of what success should look like? It turns out I bought into this lie and believed it to be mine without even questioning it. Isn’t it what the majority of us do though, we get told things by society, our parents, our leaders, and our teachers, and we just assume that those must be gospel truths for every one of us.
The moment I started questioning all my beliefs I realized that most of them were disempowering beliefs. With the help of my mentors and mindset coaches, I started to look around and saw that there are many successful people, some whom I know in my immediate circles, whose success did not come as a result of following that societal blueprint of how success should look like. People who charted their own course and lived life on their own terms. People who dared to challenge the status quo, the ones whose success is not attributable to college degrees or working nine-to-five jobs. I began to see what was possible for me and I also dared to start living life on my terms.
Anyway, the point is not to make an argument for or against climbing the corporate ladder. It’s to demonstrate that the belief I held for so long was not serving me. Because, this is a universe of infinite possibilities and potential, and here I was thinking that I could only make it in life if I lived that particular way. I had to let go of that belief, and like the few, I also have charted my course.
So, if you wanted to heal yourself and chart your own course where would you have to start?
Spiritual healing my friends, always starts with awareness, conscious awareness of your thoughts, beliefs, habits, and patterns. You cannot heal anything that you are not aware of. The starting point is to start becoming aware of the things that make you unhappy and things that don’t. This can be easier said than done because looking at something means acknowledging it. For some people, it is easier to deny their problems than to acknowledge them, because acknowledging them might give rise to the pain they’re refusing to face. It is hard for most of us to face our demons, isn’t it? We would rather sweep them under the rug, pretend they’re not there, or simply refuse to face them. Why do we do that though? Because there’s a thought process running in our heads that tells us that our demons are bigger than us, that if we even took a glimpse at those shadows we could get annihilated, just like a four-year-old who won’t go to bed because they’re convinced there’s a monster lurking inside their closet waiting for them to fall asleep so it can pounce on them.
Unfortunately, there’s no way around healing, except to intentionally face the pain we want to heal. In fact, that is the most important part because once you begin to face your pain, the dark shadows begin to dissolve, just by you setting the intention to face instead of avoiding your demons. Yes, by just being the quiet observer of our thoughts, behaviors, and patterns 80% of the work is done. You see, the truth is our pain, our shadows can only thrive in darkness. Once you shine the light of your consciousness on them, they begin to leave you, because light and darkness cannot stay in one place. Once you switch on the light, the darkness disappears, that’s how it literally works with healing our shadow aspects as well.
You have to intentionally observe, and question the beliefs that led you to manifest the life that you are now living. Make it a habit to question your internal dialogue. Is it true that money is scarce and does not grow on trees? Is it true that you have to break your back forwards and backward just so you can afford a decent living? Who taught you that? Is that what you think the Creator brought you here on earth to do? Is there another way?
I must go further here to say, that once you start questioning your beliefs and releasing those that don’t work, you have to adopt new beliefs. You have to believe differently. You have to believe it is possible, for you to live or create differently. If you find it challenging to believe different beliefs because everyone around you is the same, go out of your own way to do a little research and find out who else is doing what you would love to be, do, or have and how they are doing it. You will soon realize that you have been limiting your growth and success because you only looked at the same circle that has perpetuated your old beliefs.
I’m the first to acknowledge that it is going to be challenging at first because some of these beliefs are deeply embedded in our psyches. That is why it is very important to seek help, in the form of mentors, coaches, healers etc. These people will help you to see things that you’re unable to see through your own limited thinking and mindset. That is also why I love reading personal growth and spiritual books because they open a whole new world of seeing things and, therefore shift your paradigms instantly.
Needless to say, there are many layers and forms of healing, whether it’s healing and releasing your thought processes and old limiting beliefs, releasing trauma from your body, or healing and aligning your energy centers and auric field. Everything comes to you at your level of understanding and cognitive ability to grasp concepts. It is a process of peeling layers and layers of what is untrue and inauthentic about us. Once you set the intention to heal the universe will guide you by bringing to you the right people, the right events, and the right information to elevate your thinking and raise your vibration. But you must want it, and want it badly. You cannot half-ass this process because it requires your commitment. You must submit to it daily.
Once the student is ready the teacher will always show up ready to teach and guide.
Namaste.