What it means to heal

For a long time now I've believed I am meant to heal.

I don't know how I initially got the idea, or why I feel I am called to do this, but the pull is palatable. It grounds me like gravity, and without it, I feel aimless and flighty. Almost without purpose.

I feel that if I am not a part of the solution, I will only perpetuate the problems.

This can be seen from macro to microcosms and back again. Healing needs to take place on all levels.

The notion that healing is this ethereal one-time procedure is an illusion.

Healing is a process. It is messy, chaotic, draining, frustrating, enraging, confusing, and can be very overwhelming.

But it is worth it.

I have recently been going to therapy, processing my anger, and discussing suppressed memories and releasing deep rooted pain, anger, and sadness. It is fucking messy. But Oh My God is it healing. I already feel my self is stronger.

I feel more open. I am expressing myself better. I am standing up for myself, instead of protecting others. And what's best, is I am not looking for distractors or bandaid solutions like I used to.

Confronting my pain has been the best thing I have done for myself, probably since ever. Pushing it away, denying its existence, and suppressing it only wore away my self worth and I am only now seeing that. I thought it was the easier thing, and maybe it is, but it's the lazy thing.

Putting it on the back burner to attend to later is the worst thing you can do. It cakes, burns, over boils, and hardens, becoming a harder mess to eventually clean up.

I do believe that if you are not healing, you are hurting. If you are not discussing, you are suppressing. If you are not resting, you are exhausting. If you are not stretching, you are chronically tightening.

This is why self care is important. Just like a battery needs to take a time out to be recharged, so do you. Especially with the amount of energy we expend to live a typical adult life.

Stress is an interesting energy. It is insidious. It will find a weak link in your chain, and manifest illness and disease there.

We assume stress to be a normal part of life. We let it compound and wreak havoc on our body and mind, because, well, that's just what it means to be an adult.

But maybe it doesn't have to be that way.

When we're stressed, we need to learn to take deep breaths. Of "fresh" air, not cigarettes. We need to close our eyes, look inside, and send away the intense energies that shake us up.

Self care takes so many forms: from hydration, to meditation, exercise, and relaxation, playing games and education. Doing things, anything, that improves you mentally, emotionally, physically, or spiritually is self care.

Tonight I watched the Netflix documentary "What The Health", and it was nothing short of enlightening. I sat there with my Mom and a glass of wine and learned about how animal consumption is killing us. You might say, that's not self care. But I really believe it is.

I am opening my mind to what I need, and what we all need, to truly BE healthy. To heal ourselves, and to heal the world.

I strongly recommend this documentary. Watch it, absorb it, take notes if you have to. The message is pretty simple: an animal based diet IS our downfall. Diabetes, Cancer, Heart Disease, Asthma, Obesity … these can all be reversed with a plant based diet.

Say what you want. Doubt what you want. That's fine, it's your life. But the facts are pretty clear to me.

All I want is for you to live the best life, and be healthy.

All my love,