Believing in Your Ability to Heal
Close your eyes and think of someone very special to you. This person can be someone in your life now or someone from your past. You can imagine someone you know or someone you have read about and really respect.
Now, picture them coming to you because they are in pain and are struggling. They say to you, “I am hurting and cannot imagine this getting any better.” Try to hold their gaze.
Look into their eyes and see all the goodness about them. See all their possibilities and their strength. See if you can connect to your wisdom that they will heal. You know that they will make it through. Do you know they are good at problem solving? Do you know they have good support? Do you know they are strong? Do you believe their pain will pass? How do you know that this will work out?
Often when we love someone, we can feel it in our bones that they will be all right. Recently my 14-year-old experienced his first break-up. He was devastated. He cried a lot, wanted to fall asleep with me and lost his appetite. One night he was telling me, “Mom, I just do not think I will ever feel better.” I wrapped my arms around him and said, “Oh honey, I know. Love can be both wonderful and painful.” As I held him, I knew in my bones that he would move through this pain. I knew he would have many more nights of crying and longing for his ex-girlfriend. I knew he would try to beg her to come back at least three more times, and I knew he would heal. Think of a time when you heard about someone’s pain and knew in your heart and gut that they would be ok.
It is common for us to be more sure of other people’s abilities to heal than of our own. We just need to practice, and it will become easier for us to imagine healing as part of our daily experiences.
Imagine if, when something challenging happened to you, you simply knew you’d heal. You would likely try out more things and take more chances. For example, after conducting this exercise of imagination with Paul, a client of mine, he took on a business project that he would have avoided for fear of failure. After really connecting to his ability to heal, he was willing to take a chance on failing, because he knew that the feeling would pass. He also knew there was a strong possibility that he would succeed. By knowing he could heal from pain he was able to open up to more challenges.