Healing - A Different View

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my girlfriend's Mother had a stroke. This was no small health matter and we are grateful that it did not take her life. She is experiencing some memory loss and some physical coordination problems in her hands and feet for which she is receiving physical therapy.

It is my practice at these times to pray for healing and that it manifest in the ways perfect for that person.

About 3 weeks later, she ended up back in the hospital due to confusion and loss of knowing where she was. Everyone suspected another stroke. The doctors discovered that she had a irregular heart beat and that was most likely the cause of the original stroke. She was placed on blood thinner and had to be defibulated to bring her heart back in rhythm.

Now if you were to ask me at the time, if this was an answer to my prayers that I was seeking, I would have said No it was not. In my viewpoint, my goal was that she simply get better and be able to lead a normal life. However, this viewpoint was incorrect for the answer to my prayer.

The reason why is that we never knew why she had the stroke originally. So, as long as we did not know, she was highly susceptible to a continuation of stroke after stroke. The episode of confusion and subsequent hospital stay allowed the doctors to become aware of what we suspect was the root cause of the original stroke and respond to it. While on the surface, it appears that her health was getting worse, in actuality, it was becoming clearer as to what was wrong with her. Awareness is a beautiful thing!

She is now at home. Her heart is in normal rhythm. They are adjusting her blood thinner medication, and she has resumed physical therapy. The possiblity for future strokes has been minimimized.

Another friend of mine who is much younger discovered recently that she has rheumatoid arthritis. Based on her sensitivity of what was going on in her body regarding swelling and joint pain she went to the doctor and discovered she has a genetic predisposition for this form of arthritis. No where in her family has this manifested before. The good news is that it has been detected early and there are aggressive treatments that can put it in remission. The prognosis is good. However, the prognosis would not be good if she had not been sensitive, acted on the sensitivity, and sought help. Strike up another one for awareness.

While the treatments are not fun, she has a good chance to overcome a debilitating disease and live an active life.

My learning was\is that healing is not always linear. In other words, often times we have to experience the disease the trauma or the condition and become aware of it so healing can happen. Pushing it aside, resisting it, suspressing it, or viewing it as a negative life event can actually prolong the possiblility of not healing. In my mind and often in our culture we think that the linear shortest point from point A (disease) to Point B (healed or perception of health) is the best. Obviously not in all cases.

That is why I love this quote that I read today from Byron Katie:

"Everything happens for me, not to me."

Could it be the universe really is a friendly place?