5 Realizations About the Healing Process I Wish I Knew from the Beginning

Well, okay… if I had known already, then the story would have been entirely different, right?! In some ways, not knowing these key aspects of the healing journey was a necessary PART of my healing journey!

But, hopefully I can save some folks out there just a tad bit more time on theirs! After all, time is one of our most valuable resources.

So, with that said, I will jump right in! Allow me to gift you with 5 powerful realizations I’ve had about the healing process:

1.) There are no quick fixes, no miracle cures.

Gosh, how many times have I heard this one before! Yet, I realize, a certain part of me did NOT want to listen! Well I am listening now because it is SOOOO TRUE! Sure, I have definitely crossed some miraculous healing thresholds along the way. But the moment that I begin to turn to any one modality, any one herb or medicine or technique or speaker, I begin to stunt my own healing process.

Why? The truth is, healing takes time, and a commitment to showing up for the process over and over again, every single day, every single moment. Any time I have begun to turn solely to one thing for my healing, I have also made an unconscious decision to narrow my threshold by shutting out all other options and modalities for that healing.

There are certainly very effective tools I have picked up along the way, that I like to use for specific purposes, and find myself turning to again and again! But these tools are not the miracle fix all cure all’s that this convenience addicted part of me is searching for. In fact, no such things exists. What I’ve realized is that I am the only determiner of my ability to heal. My level of persistence and tenacity in this realm, the thing that drives me to keep coming back to this process again and again, is the one solid thing I can count on. Ask yourself this: are you ready to fully commit to your Healing Process? Start there.

2.) The Healing Journey is also just called life.

In other words, there is no end to it. Rejoice in this truth! It means you can continue to refine, clear, purify, and align every aspect of your being to greater and greater levels, if you so choose! The possibilities for your life are (and your impact on the world) are endless! You can choose to go all in and take every opportunity that comes your way, or you can sit back and relax and allow the thing to just unfold. Either way is great. Whatever your goals are, whatever level of commitment you have to your sense of health and wellness, experiencing, learning and evolving is inevitable. And that is one of the most fundamental aspects of the healing process I’ve heard of! Some peoples pace may be slower than others! That is totally cool. The point is, you can’t really get away from it (unless you live under a rock in the arctic tundra and have no internet connection or human friends…) the healing process is happening to you because you are alive and because you are a human being that is connected to the greater web of humanity.

3.) Healing does not look the same, every single time.

My process can change, day to day, moment to moment! Just like our hair grows or falls out, just like we loose weight or gain weight, so to is the Healing Process in a constant and every evolving ebb and flow. I used to really want to get attached to a particular way of healing! If it felt this good before, and it sounded, looked like, felt like XYZ… well then I HAD to recreate whatever led me to XYZ in order for the healing to actually work…. RIGHT!?

This thought process totally makes sense! Our brains are designed to identify simple patterns of experience and then draw associations to those patterns. It is how we evolved to efficiently and rapidly process all of the sensory input that we pick up on a daily basis. But this just isn’t how the healing process works, all the time! I have learned through time that I don’t always need to have a huge, wailing, cathartic release in order to experience massive healing! Sometimes, the daily reflections that come through just living and being in my own practices gently glide towards the most long lasting, transformational shifts I could hope for. Sometimes, it happens in an instant. The trick is to learn that I can stop looking for the “way” that it works, and just trust that it is happening, however it needs to.

4.) Just because I healed something on a deep level does not mean that I will never have issues with this subject again!

One day, I can feel clear and expansive, and the next, another interaction in life can trigger me into a contracted, confused, fear state. And guess what!? Both are the perfect picture of a healing human. It is the commitment to showing up for ourselves during these times of fear and resistance that mark the authentic healing experience. There was a time when I put “Shoulds” all over my process. I thought that, if I had made the necessary changes, had cleared a lot of gunk built up around a certain area, and as a result, had experienced a great sense of clarity, peace, and expansiveness, well then it “should” always be that way, from that point onward!

This kind of expectation has the ability to create a TON of pressure for the person in question to “just be healed already!” And guess what?! That pressure shows up in the mind, heart, and body as STRESS! Which does the opposite of promoting health. I have learned how valuable it is to notice all of these different states of being, my various attachments and aversions to them, and then return to practicing self compassion for myself, no matter what state I am in! When I can do this, acceptance for where I am at comes that much easier. With this acceptance, more space opens up to notice areas where I can refine. It feels so much better when I can do that from a loving place, rather than making changes because “I should!”

5.) Healing is an investment I must be willing to make in order to see results.

I am not just talking about monetary investment. We have so many other key resources to work with. Namely, our time, our energy, our thoughts and beliefs, and our choices. I am making life investments all of the time!

For example, each time I go to the local grocery co-op, I am choosing to invest in nourishing my body with organic, ethically grown foods. I am also choosing to invest in my sense of peace and well being (my co-op is much more pleasant than the neighboring supermarket,) and my values for sustainability, co-operation, and showing support for my local community! This effects my health, not only through the foods I give myself access to when I choose the co-op over the supermarket, but also in the level of safety and comfort I feel around the people that are attracted to the grocery co-op, the alignment of my heart and mind that occurs when I shop where the practices reflect my values and beliefs, even in the possible interactions I might have with other people who shop there, and the opportunities that may open up!

When we break down this aspect of the healing process in this way, you can see how each and every choice affects the whole! If I want healing for myself, I must be willing to look at all of the factors that affect whichever area of my life I want healing in, and make the choice to invest wisely.

Investments are often monetary in nature, as well! We have access to a certain amount of resources at all times, so it naturally doesn’t make mathematical sense to think we can invest in new and healthy things while maintaining our old investments. This will quickly lead to a state of depletion, which is the opposite of what we’re going for! When it comes to monetary investments, I like to take a look at all of the areas of my life where I am making investments in other things, and then check in and see if any of these investments are no longer adding to my sense of wellness. It is likely that you can identify at least a few areas of your life in which you invest some of your resources, that actually take away from your sense of health, rather than adding to it!

The next step is re-allocating those resources somewhere that is going to boost you, make you feel awesome and well, and bolster your experience of joy and happiness in life! It’s like the opposite of quitting an addiction cold turkey. Instead of using shame and judgement about the choices you’ve been making to get you to quit whatever distracting/degenerating thing you want to quit, you are giving yourself a gift! It is like saying to yourself, “Hey, I know we felt like we needed that for a while! Totally cool! Now, I’m choosing to invest in a new cool thing!” There is no discipline involved, just acceptance coupled with a reallocation of your precious resources.

So there you have it, folks! I hope you enjoyed investing some of your time and energy in reading this! Let me know in the comments if these realizations resonate with you, if you have realized similar things along your own healing journey, or if you have any helpful realizations you’d like to add!

As always, in gratitude

Caitlin Austin

Caitlin Austin

Community Holistic Herbalist and EFT Practitioner