Bodies know how to heal; Hearts know how to love
Reasons for Hope (4 of 11)
Hope
Hope comes from many directions and on many levels. I want to remind you of the hope that stems from the body itself as well as the metaphorical seat of the soul, the heart.
Remember when you were little and you got a paper cut or stumbled and skinned your knees? Remember cleaning the wound and putting on a Bandaid? Remember watching as day after day the wound healed magically on its own? Perhaps you have also suffered a broken bone. The doctor reset it and checked from time to time on the progress, but the body did the rest.
Do you remember the deepest most real moments you have experienced with another? Maybe it was just before or after a death or some deep suffering and someone held you so tight you knew that you were absolutely loved.
Why does this matter and what does it have to do with Reasons for Hope? It seems to me that we have forgotten to trust our own bodies and our own hearts. We can lose connection to our hearts, even building a wall around them. Or we lose trust in our bodies or even hate them. We can fall prey to the constant barrage of pharmaceutical commercials imploring us to “ask your doctor” for this or that. All of this messaging distracts us from the bigger, truer, and very important message of trusting that our bodies in fact always seek to be in homeostasis or a state of wellness. If we can trust our bodies and our hearts, we can trust ourselves. If we can trust ourselves, we have hope.
Made to Heal
We so rarely register how much and how often our bodies are regenerating new cells, fighting bacteria and healing themselves. In fact, any healing that the body does is actually done by the body itself. We simply find ways to assist the body in its healing processes. In fact, most over the counter medicines that we take deal with the discomfort but don’t actually cure. The body knows how to heal and it does.
Much of the time when your body begins to act out in some way - aches, pains, rashes, systemic issues - the body is signaling to you that something is out of balance, out of homeostasis. It is easy enough to ignore, cover up, or look for a quick fix to the physical issue at hand. But it may not be in your best interest to neglect the cause. Keep in mind, our bodies, minds, and emotions are all interconnected. For example, perhaps your stomach aches have nothing to do with the stomach itself. Perhaps it is really about how feeling constantly overwhelmed is manifesting in the body. If you connect the two and deal with the overwhelm, the body will heal the stomach aches on its own. What has your body been signaling to you? How have you responded? How often do you tune in? Might there be emotional or stress-related aspects to nagging or chronic health issues that can also be explored in addition to Western medical treatments?
A few reminders:
Your body needs good sleep to regenerate, heal, and grow properly.
Your body needs proper nutrients to function optimally; therefore, what you ingest matters; the quality of your food, air, water, or medicines matter.
Stress is the number one factor in creating chronic disease; therefore, processing, managing and limiting the stress in your life can only benefit your overall health.
Exercise benefits your body in numerous ways.
The body’s wellness influences the mind and the heart’s wellness, too.
When I began this series I asked you to be open to the possibilities of hope. If you aren’t already in the habit of consciously treating your body like the generative, healing, miraculous vehicle it is for that essence that is You (capital Y), you can begin here and how shifting how you think your amazing body. If you are curious about healing modalities that don’t include drugs, certainly there are thousands of resources easily available to inform you. But what should you even be looking for?
What follows is a short list of routes for healing that honor the body’s own healing mechanisms. (Many are modalities I have tried or studied in recent years; so very fascinating! Click the link to read about one of these experiences.) Some are more widely accepted by the general public than others. But as quantum physicists understand more an more the world of energy, the modern world is rediscovering ancient energy medicines and their healing powers:
Chiropractic care
Myofascial release
Acupuncture
Herbal medicines
Homeopathy
Ayurvedic medicine
Reiki
Qigong
Quantum touch
Sound healings
Energetic or applied kinesiology
Body Code/Emotion Code treatment
Chinese medicines
Taking the time to consciously retrain your brain to trust your body’s own ability to heal, to be attuned to your body’s needs and discomfort, and to learn about new and interesting ways to integrate wellness for your mind, body, and spirit can and will bring you hope!
Made to Love
In these times when many of us feel more isolated and separated than ever before from other human beings, we may have forgotten that hearts know how to love. Remembering this one thing can bring much hope.
If you have ever held a young baby in your arms and looked him or her in the eye, you know the instant connection and love that can result. Babies aren’t putting on a show for you; they aren’t concerned with a name or label or title. They just ARE. And as they ARE, they show us who we are at heart. At heart we are beings with a great capacity for love, connection, and joy. This is our natural state. The masks we wear and roles we project are the made up stuff. Through rediscovering our natural selves, we rediscover the wonder of living itself. You have the capacity for great love: love of self and family and friends and strangers. You have the capacity to see the world as a child does, with an open heart and open arms. You have already been there and done that! (And so has everyone else.)
In 2018 and 2019 I was a chaperone to about fifteen students on a service trip to Kolkata, India, to work with three charitable organizations. Two of the organizations helped very poor and street children through the education and activities that they offered. I remember our school’s high school students being so struck by how absolutely genuine and instantly loving the kids were in Kolkata. What we were all encountering for the first time were other human beings who were simply being themselves - no pretense, no masks, no persona. Just plain themselves. And what resulted was an immediate bond and friendship with perfect strangers. We all learned something quite valuable about the heart of humans; it is always there. Sometimes it just needs to be uncovered to shine brightly again. I remember telling the students that once they have KNOWN pure connection like that they can never UNKNOW it. It is always there waiting.
Worry, fear, anger, anxiety - these things distract us from the truth. In their own way they lie to us, grabbing a hold of us and telling us the narrative that they want us to believe: that the world is a fearful place everywhere all the time, that we are alone, that we aren’t worthy of love. But this is just the story they offer. When you or I strip off the persona and get to the heart of who we are, each of us is a precious aspect of the Universe or Source or God itself, worthy and designed for love and connection. That is our natural state. When any of us are miserable, drained, lonely, or depressed, that is unnatural. Our bodies wish to be in balance and wellness. Take the moments you need each day to affirm yourself just as you would an infant. Offer that grace and love to yourself and others. Why not prioritize altering any negative narrative you may be telling yourself into a gentler, kinder one? Remind yourself that bodies know how to heal and heart know how to love.
See where it leads!
Resources
Brayko, Brenda. “Thank you, Asia ‘Applied Kinesiology’ (15 days until Green Bay).” Oh, The Places You’ll Go. 16 May 2021. https://greenbaytokorea.blogspot.com/2021/05/thank-you-asia-applied-kinesiology.html
Next up: The Hope in Free Will
You can find my other series in the archives:
Parenting 101 Coupons: A Gift from your Parents
Partnering 101: A Deep Dive into Leaving Kindly
Me-Time: Self-care in the time of Covid
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Brenda BraykoWriter. Teacher. Gong Player.
Find more of my writing at GreenBaytoKorea.blogspot.com
Learn about my business at CelestialSoundGB.com
On Instagram @applebb09
All photos by © Brenda Brayko 2022.