Healing the Root Cause of Your Misery ...First

While my partner works hard at editing our photo memories of travel to make books, I wanted to talk about the importance of spiritual and emotional healing to allow your body to heal the best it can from anything. Be it a broken ankle, an abusive upbringing, or a brand-new cancer diagnosis. It's in my experience that the more the body/mind is fully open to heal to what ever comes your way, the more you heal in ways that are not always physical and more spiritual(not in any particular named faith). This complete holistic approach, facilitate to the most complete healing of what ails you and making it an ongoing affair...that is no-limits in time.
I went to a therapist after a job loss, one year after I bought my first house alone which brought up all kinds of things. Probably the second time of seeing and talking to the therapist, and reliving the strain of my alcoholic father as a child, who I also lost 2 years before the job loss, some small wisdom starting creeping in. This therapist is going to have to make me feel comfortable with change, either by crying it out or talking it out, but it is ultimately up to me to change.  At first because my wisdom was very weak, what came up first was I will save money and just quit going to see her. I did not know how and I wasn’t cured or had less anger/sadness. Instead, I just plowed through life as best as I could until my near death and bi-lateral strokes which happened just three years after my job loss. After I started my own business to gain my control over my life I later found out that anything you “do”  with any external circumstances, does not bring wisdom internally. I had a ton of traumas to deal with, and certainly no more than anyone else, but it was time.

 

One really has to dig deep to unveil what is your motivation with or during any change.

The payoff can be amazing with wisdom sometimes trickling in slowly even while the path to emotional and spiritual well-being can be quite long. My own path, small meditations and later after my first 10-day Vipassana, II could see I was not wise by any means... I did see the exposure of quite a bit of what I was holding on to and carrying around inside of myself.  This led to my yearly holiday bronchitis attack that I usually suffered through … end just like that.  The beginning of a meditation practice I had started after realizing that doing the same old things and expecting a different outcome was the definition of ignorance. I needed to change something and now, I had someone that it was important to keep.  I saw after a year and half of practice I could see anger arising a few times, and get an extra second in time where I could decide or not whether to explode and figure out what would be a better outcome. This led me to wanting to pursue not healing my medical nightmare but instead healing what can be the root of what is holding me back from healing the body the best that I can. It can take many different methods to facilitate your spiritual and emotional healing and I am in no way saying mine is the best way, but it is an important key to healing this older body. Find the one that best suits your disposition. What do you really want besides healing? Happiness and mature growth, affecting all those around you making you a beacon?

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Unbinding, For a Start

Some Sri Lankan's can't swim. Maybe they never want to leave.

While in the process of healing it became obvious that I had to work on healing the dark parts of my soul, so that I could possibly help others as well as myself. And one good way would be to share my story in a public venue. I tried a little, back when I volunteered with post stroke therapy in a hospital in the process of answering questions of those curious.  A few patients and/or their families were appreciative, but after a while I began to see clients and almost immediately tell who do will do well and who would not.  A mixture of both their ability or inability to accept this new change and who came or did not of their family or caregivers. I quit when it became painful to see. But I did some winners and great families step up like mine did. Meanwhile, I raised my own standards, as more personal flaws became known to me, and set off working on them. 

Just a little history to point me the need to tell my story, and points to interconnectedness of people where a single incident of delight can trigger others.

I was in a jovial mood after Sri Lanka(thinking of seeing my partner after a 2nd trip solo) and making connections both with the security and a man who both happened to see my Buddha amulet once I took it from out of my shirt to show that it was no weapon when I was individually patted down. All the security were very happy to find out I am Buddhist(or more correct, I try to follow the Buddhist path), and then I showed them on my phone a photo of me when I ordained in Thailand. Instantly, I felt like I just got accepted into a big family, and everyone came to look. One gentleman who was a witness to this as well, wrote on a card of a monk and temple I need to go and meditate in when I return.  As well, when I arrived there three weeks earlier, the staff of Sri Lankan Airline's offered me a ride in their van to the local bus stop, even though the bus stops there, just a friendly goodwill offering to beat the rain that was soon going to follow. The new airport in Hambantota made me really not want to leave, I guess because more goodwill incidents kept happening.

All these special moments really do make one happier, setting off a chain reaction and thus when I arrived in Bangkok I was caring their good will in my heart. I chatted up one man waiting in the skytrain and he ignored me(possibly language reason), then quickly on to another who was Sikh trying to use a famous voice(Snatam Kaur) as a way to break the ice. There was no wall of separation between us as with most strangers. Yes, of course he had heard of her and seen her sing live. Although she was not needed, this particular gentleman had a clear heart and thus launched us into almost an hour long conversation. And this is how I return to the need to share my story, which we had talked about on the ride. He planted a seed. That it is and was unique enough with my near death. I am guessing he was a Dr, and a speaker who flew there for a talk that he was giving. I said that I am still trying to figure out which points to bring up that would help others grow in their own life. Here a few ideas of what I may discuss in my "broken voice" that will hopefully not convey pity but fearlessness in the near future.

Wewurukannala Vihara Temple

WAS ONCE'S Healing Hints:

— There are no guarantees in life or birthrights for that matter.

— When bad things happen don't compound them by taking on blame or assigning it to others, for that matter. Still working on this one.
— Turn “why me?” to “why not, me?” That took me at least a year!

— Raise your goals. When don't meet them, use them to inspire you for the following day.

— Believe it or not…you may have to use “making others happy” to access your own healing. That will become obvious with time.

—Examine your thinking at every level, even a slight negative mind state will become a cesspool of misery. (This lead me to meditation)

— Relaxing is the greatest skill you could learn in this lifetime.(learned from an ex-monk)

— Fall in love with your illness or disease. If that doesn’t work then fall in love with the wisdom you have gathered from it. I got to that point in a few years, that I now longer wanted my old life back.
— Be grateful for those that reject you, but be forever indebted to those that stick around.

— Admit your failures or laugh at them.(Jump start it by laughing at your past egocentric perfections)

— TRY EVERYTHING, it will eventually trigger the hope energy to blossom, and give you more reasons to continue thus allowing more healing. Let go of things that “should” work, and move on…we are each a unique being with a mish-mash of life experiences.
— Stop comparing yourself to others perceived as “bette” than you and actually see how lucky you are. You obviously are still here because you have more to learn before you die.

— No one will fully understand your suffering, flip it ...try to understand others suffering or just be quiet and observe.

all four photos were shot by my partner, soon to be my husband