Sunday, July 25, 2010

The Power of Healing

What are you healing from? A life threatening illness, the end of a relationship, the death of a lover, a friend, or family member? Have you struggled to overcome addiction and gone to hell and back in search of finding your soul?

Healing comes to us in many forms and is a neverending process of life’s journey. With it comes the emotions of fear, sadness, loss, and ultimately, the need to adapt to change. I believe we have a responsibility to learn from the challenges’s put before us. My challenge was to embrace the fact that the universe was handing me a lesson I needed to learn.  I could either die or fight to overcome my fears, with the goal that this experience would make me a stronger human being.

My path to healing from cancer took many twists and turns. I found healing, in the support and comfort I received from friends and family. I found healing, by beginning to honor my body in ways that embraced the love they showed me, allowing me to love myself even in my darkest moments. I found healing, through the beauty and wonder in nature. The stars seemed brighter, the sunsets more colorful, the waves crashing on the beach louder, the unique beauty of the desert became more interesting, the peace of waking beside a lake more serene. God appeared to me in all these acts of love and places of beauty and I knew I was never alone in my struggle.

Today, my life has a new perspective. I am blessed for having gone through the pain of cancer.  Loosing my hair was only a minor inconvenience, although I admit looking in the mirror some days tested my views about my sense of self worth.  Not being able to digest food for the better part of a year and all that came with chemo and radiation, brought me to the depths of despair on many occassions.  There were days, I actually felt I was slowly dying inside.  My body and strength were being tested and I remember silently wondering if I might loose this battle.  Looking back, I came through my journey wiser, more compassionate, and more deeply connected to others. Moving through the process of healing opened up my creativity and need to communicate the profoundly powerful lessons we all can learn.  The key is to pay close attention to the individual lessons hidden within our pain.

I encourage you to seek to understand your journey of healing, be patient with yourself -- healing takes time, connect to a power greater than yourself and you too will find the power to be transformed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A beautiful reflection on healing Tamara. Healing is a process and I believe that the real healing work of cancer begins after treatment ends.Cancer strikes a severe blow at our sense of self - the apparent randomness of a cancer diagnosis shakes our sense of identity to its very core. The physcial scars of treatment will heal but it may take a lot longer to heal from the emotional and psychological scars. We need to be gentle, patient and loving with ourselves while we complete the healing journey.

Whidbey Woman said...

Thank you for sharing your reflections on healing. This is a beautiful, inspiring post. God bless.

INSIDE THE SHRINK said...

You are so right on. We are all in a healing stage from something that intervened in our lives. This post really spoke to me and I thank you for your obedience to the Lord in writing it. God bless you. Dr. Bobbi