Healing the body is a process.
It does not involve just vitamins, supplements and good healthy food and choices.
It involves the unison of the mind, body and spirit.
I often wondered why my doctors almost always asked about my frame of mind, my physical health and my spiritual health. It is because health is not just healing the body. It is the combined effort of the mind, body and spirit that enables healing. In fact, the healing of the mind and the spirit can lead to miraculous healing of the body.
My treatments are three-fold and I have (rightfully) labeled them mind, body and spirit.
MIND
A clear calm mind paves the way to better health. When I was first diagnosed, I asked myself "Why?" and 'Why me?" - but then suddenly it dawned upon me that these questions will get me nowhere except in a depressed rut.
So I think positive thoughts(even though it may be hard, read positive books that are inspiring and spiritually enlightening, listen to music that is pleasing to me and my soul (of course, this depends upon individual taste), watch TV shows that are funny, to maintain a 'happiness therapy' to keep me generally positive and in the right 'frame of mind' to promote, assist the physical healing of the body.
I have my 'retail therapy' where I will go into stores and just browse for hours. This not only gets me out of the house, it also gives me good exercise.
I also try to keep occupied by getting invloved in a number of things like cooking, gardening, housework and volunteer work and writing - while keeping my physical limitations in mind. I am considering getting certified as an ESL teacher and as a Yoga instructor.
BODY
The first thing I do when I wake up is some stretching exercises followed by yoga, breathing exercises and a 20 minute meditation. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, I follow the yoga and meditation with 35 minutes of weight training exercises which I will repeat at the end of the day.
Then shower, breakfast and the normal cycle of pills, water, washroom, pills, water, washroom while taking my supplementary drinks and a strict emphasis on my diet. My protein intake is high and carbohydrate intake is monitored so as not to exceed a certain number of helpings per day. I also monitor how much fruit I eat so as not to consume too much sugar. There are no preservatives or artificial additives in the food I consume and I purchase organic produce as much as possible.
Religious scriptures have quoted that the body is the temple of God. Why then would we abuse it by poisoning ourselves when all we have to do is take care of it and help it heal?:
SPIRIT
One can eat well, exercise and have happy thoughts but if we do not take care of the spirit, then I feel, we are nowhere.
For some,spirit means organized religion and rituals. For others, it is just being one with a supreme power. Every person's notion of the spirit will be different.
Mine begins with a meditation in the morning. As the day progresses, I have many forms of conversation with God. In the evening, I will either go to mosque or pray at home and will pray for strength, faith, love and forgiveness while giving thanks for all the good things in my life.
The other day a thought occurred to me. Everyday, I pray for strength, help and faith to bear this burden, this cross, of my illness and my life, to help ease the difficulties that come with it. Everyday I pray for a better tomorrow and everyday I pray for support to help me finance my illness,despite my not working. I pray for strength with my daily living.
This would mean that I lack the strength, support and faith. If I did not already have them, then how am I surviving?
Now I pray for these but mostly, give thanks for the strength, support, faith and love that I am already enveloped in.
A professor I respect and adore, Doctor Boustan Hirji once said to me "the faith we have is in ourselves, for there is no divinity except what is within our hearts and you know this, for you have touched the core of your being and returned, illumined."
There are many times that I do not recognize this in me. There are others that do not recognize the divinity within themselves.
I will also listen to music that heals my soul, read inspritational devotional writing, attend prayer at the local mosque regularly and even do my share of volunteering because there is that special healing in service to others.
In this way, healing is not something I hope to achieve somewhere, someday.
It is a path I am already on.
It is in every waking minute of everyday......................................
