| In his 2009 release, Deep Medicine: Harnessing the | | | | "goal" is that there is no such "place" for us to arrive; |
| Source of Your Healing Power (co-published with the | | | | rather, the journey involves a new manner of |
| Institute of Noetic Sciences), surgeon William B. | | | | perceiving, a refined way of being, a re-formed way |
| Stewart, MD, notes: | | | | of living, and an endlessly evolving process of |
| "Health does not mean being completely free of | | | | stepwise actions, repeated over and over again each |
| illness or defying death indefinitely. It is about human | | | | day. As Mythologist Joseph Campbell avowed:"We |
| values as well as lab values. It is more than the | | | | must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so |
| absence of symptoms; it means a wholeness and | | | | as to have the life that is waiting for us." |
| alignment in living our lives--a dynamic and constantly | | | | It is in this process-of-goaling that you develop an |
| changing balance that acknowledges the soundness | | | | entirely modified manner of relating with Self and |
| of our physical state, the wholesomeness of our | | | | illness - much like how your relating with the earth |
| lifestyle, the values and virtues that define our | | | | and sun and shade and insects evolves as you |
| behavior, our intimate and collective relationships, the | | | | cultivate a garden. We do not "arrive" - we cultivate |
| meaning and purpose of our work in the world, and | | | | stepwise-actions-toward. |
| the cyclical and spiritual dimensions of our existence" | | | | The zen proverb puts forth: "Before enlightenment; |
| [emphases mine]. | | | | chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop |
| In short, "health" is not an end-state to accomplish, | | | | wood, carry water." And yet, we are somehow |
| but is a manner of living. That is why I use the verb | | | | transformed in the process of chopping and carrying |
| "healing" (rather than the noun "health")in Coaching | | | | - such that we experience an energy, an enthusiasm, |
| Self Healing for those living through chronic illness. | | | | a zest for chopping and carrying, for the wood and |
| It is this "healing" activity - aligning how we live each | | | | the water! Again Campbell's view can be |
| moment, constantly balancing - which is skill-based | | | | enlightening:"Sri Ramakrishna said: Do not seek |
| and can be learned, practiced and applied in daily living. | | | | illumination unless you seek it as a man whose hair is |
| We do not "arrive" at some point called "health", but | | | | on fire seeks a pond!" THAT is "goaling" in your Self |
| we repeatedly, moment-to-precious-moment, step | | | | Healing journey! |
| toward, grow toward, evolve and cultivate a Self | | | | As we embark on such "goaling" journeys (aflame |
| Healing attitude toward being and living. | | | | and seeking the pond), we are challenged to invoke |
| Over the years, most people with whom I have | | | | the experience of wonder available to us in each |
| counseled and coached, have entered the process | | | | moment, this moment: In other words, we allow the |
| determined to "arrive" at some new place in life. Such | | | | mundane to become exotic, the ordinary to become |
| endpoints may be to pass a particular test, to | | | | inspiring, pain to become bliss, awful becomes |
| graduate, to land a particular job, to make a certain | | | | "awefull" - and it all happens (as Campbell so |
| amount of money, to end an addiction, to overcome | | | | poignantly described) "so that we actually feel the |
| an illness, to master dis-ease, to develop a healthy | | | | rapture of being alive"! Therein lay the processes of |
| love relationship. In each case, in that person's mind, it | | | | "achieving" Self Healing - feeling, KNOWING, the |
| involves "arriving" at some distant and seemingly | | | | rapture in living . . . now! May you know such joy on |
| unattainable "goal". And, they are right, to arrive at | | | | your Self Healing journey! |
| such an end-point IS unattainable. | | | | My business is to Coach You Well! |
| Indeed, the root of the problem with each such | | | | |