My patient, Elizabeth, reached out to me initially because she had some health concerns. She is a radiant, beautiful woman in her late 40’s. She is also a healer, by profession and by calling. She is a mother and a wife, a daughter and a daughter-in-law (until recently). She has a big heart and a dream. She is currently working in our broken hospital system- and feeling, every day, the soul-sucking effects of being a cog in the wheel of the corporate medical industrial complex in the United States of America.
She is conscientious and detail-oriented. She is meticulous about her choices, as she is perfectly aware of the impact they all have, immediately or long term. Her dream is to work directly with the soil, to plant and harvest her own food and to teach others how to do it, too. Like most empaths, she has a hard time when she is asked, explicitly or implicitly, to be out of integrity -by her work, or by the world. And, the direct consequence of those nefarious influences in her life is that she starts questioning herself. She starts questioning her sanity.
This is not just another musing about how broken the world is. We all know we are handing out a world of uncertainty to our children, a broken world, that our previous generations have created, and that we have further contributed to. We either know and choose to do something about it, or we know, but choose to ignore the truth for whatever reason (for some, it might be a feeling of disempowerment, for some, it might be stepping in and out of denial). But even to the most hardened hearts out there, it is obvious that our current way of being is unsustainable and that it is not clear that our children or grandchildren will have clean air and clean water.
So why is it that the people who refuse to turn a blind eye to the cruel realities of this world and reject the current untenable system, question their sanity or a regular basis? Shouldn’t it be the other way around- shouldn’t all the polluting, garbage-eating zombies who live their life half asleep, with numb hearts and dead souls question THEIR rationality?
I remember when I first stepped out of the box of conventional medicine- it was the scariest leap of faith I’ve ever done, and I’ve done some pretty daring things in my life. I kept asking my mentor at the time if she thought I was going insane. I asked this question so often, that it became irritating to her- and she set some very clear rules: I was never to talk about myself in those terms and I was never to put myself down in any way. Fortunately for me, this was somebody whose ethical standing with me was very strong and my heart was open enough that I was able to internalise the above messages and apply them into my life.
My hope for Elizabeth is that she will find a community of like-minded people, people of high integrity like herself- and start a collaboration in pursuing her dream of living off the land and teaching others to do it, too. Healing happens in groups and big dreams are accomplished in groups, too. I would have not been able to live my dream of opening my own practice and pursuing my soul’s calling if I didn’t have the support group I had at the time. The wisdom of the hive was invaluable for me.
A journey of a thousand miles starts with one step. The journey back to one’s soul starts with honouring one’s calling and pursuing one’s dreams.
Now that is what I call healing.