What If Spirituality and Healing Are the Same?.

What blocks spiritual growth is almost always the same thing. We let inspiring moments pass without expanding them. To expand them needs to be a project we value and put time into. Modern life is too demanding for most people to take on this project, but things can change if we reframe spirituality. What if you view it as your personal healing? We live in an age when self-care is replacing dependency on doctors and drugs to solve what ails us. Yet a lack of inner fulfillment is also what ails us, not just physical disorders.

This reframing shows how healing becomes not an incidental thing in your life but your inner purpose. With purpose comes all the spiritual nourishment people are missing. The popular British writer Layla Saad helped promote the idea that spiritual nourishment is healing. That’s the secret. If you don’t feel inspired by your own healing, you won’t start the process and stick with it. Let’s see how healing can be spiritually nourishing. There are many ways. Let me list them in abbreviated form.

The joy of giving

The pleasure in being of service

The relief that comes when pain is lifted

The strength of self-esteem

The freedom of having no secrets

The lightness felt when shame and guilt are released

The optimism that comes from hope

As you pay attention to these capsule phrases, I’m sure you identified with them at least a little. Those are the areas that will open most easily to you personally. You might, for example, have experienced the joy of giving or the pleasure of being of service to someone in need. The things you achieve with pride raise your self-esteem. Every ray of hope sparks a moment of optimism.

Spiritual nourishment takes many forms, but true healing is intimate; it begins with an honest look at the area that is wounded. As evidence that most people find it hard to really see themselves, psychologists constantly face resistance, denial, and defensiveness from clients who have voluntarily taken the step of seeking help. Resistance and denial are even stronger among those who haven’t begun to approach their own healing.

The healing journey is unique, because you are both the healer and the healed. That’s an unusual position to be in, because we’re used to separating the doctor and the patient. But personal healing is different. When you act as your own healer, you gain a sense of power and control. Self-care is empowering. You don’t set out pretending to be a therapist, doctor, or any other kind of professional. (My intention is not to lead anyone down those paths, which can be quite dangerous when serious medical conditions are of concern.) Instead, the areas you want to heal simply rise in your awareness  You feel stressed or overwhelmed. You notice that your experience of love and joy has waned. You experience insecurity or self-doubt. In other words, dis-ease and unease come to your attention, and instead of passing this off, you decide to take a healing attitude.

Awareness itself is healing. It shouldn’t be something you hide from. Sit quietly, take a few deep breaths with your eyes closed, and let your attention go where it wants. If it goes to an area of tightness or discomfort, allow this. If, however, you experience pain that doesn’t start to subside, open your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and promise to yourself that you will return to feel this area again soon.

But under ordinary circumstances, the discomfort will be easily tolerated. Continue to breathe deeply and consciously relax your body. This is a good time to meditate, but it is equally a good time to ask your awareness some questions, such as

What’s going on?

Does this discomfort mean something needs to be looked at?

Tell me more.

Send me healing energy.

Help me release this stress.

There is no set pattern here, since everyone is different. In the case of repeated negative thoughts, for example, it can be helpful simply to say to yourself, “I don’t need this thought anymore” or you can formulate your own expression, such as “Thanks, but this feeling is no longer serving me.” Your intention is more important than the specific words you choose, which are there basically in order to focus your intention. Intention and attention acting together are very powerful.

The general point is to deepen your purpose to make your spiritual journey a healing journey, not because you are sick but because the state of spiritual unfulfillment needs healing. Make this your purpose, and the rewards will only deepen and become more meaningful with time.

DEEPAK CHOPRA MD, FACP, FRCP, founder of The Chopra Foundation, a non-profit entity for research on well-being and humanitarianism, and Chopra Global, a whole health company at the intersection of science and spirituality, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation.  Chopra is a Clinical Professor of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, and serves as a senior scientist with Gallup Organization. He is the author of over 90 books translated into over forty-three languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. Chopra has been at the forefront of the meditation revolution for the last thirty years. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Digital Dharma: How to Use AI to Raise Your Spiritual Intelligence and Personal Well-Being. TIME magazine has described Dr. Chopra as “one of the top 100 heroes and icons of the century.”  www.deepakchopra.com