The Spiritual Side of Sickness
As a holistic healer and highly sensitive person who is not a stranger to physical and emotional dis-ease, I understand that illness, whether acute or chronic, often carries deeper messages and opportunities for growth.
I'll share 3 key insights on how to approach sickness from a spiritual perspective.
Listen to Your Body's Wisdom
Our bodies have an innate wisdom and ability to heal if we learn how to tune in. Being sick or struggling with symptoms can be an invitation from your soul to slow down and listen.
But how do we tap into this wellspring of inner knowledge?
Start by being curious about what your symptoms are trying to “tell” you. Instead of resisting or being frustrated by the illness, get quiet and ask your body what it needs right now. See your symptoms as communication rather than an enemy to suppress.
When we receive diagnoses or labels from doctors, it's easy to fixate on those. But there is so much more wisdom within your own body. Hold diagnoses loosely, and stay open to all possibilities of healing. Don't let labels define or limit you.
Make time and space to tune in, even if it means saying no to other obligations for a period. Give your body the rest and care it is calling for. Trust in these messages and the capacity to guide you back into balance through this period of struggle. Learn to fully listen.
Illness as a Cleansing Process
One of the most challenging times during a healing journey is to release a specific outcome.
Often our bodies need to cleanse in order to clear out old stuck energies and patterns. This purge happens emotionally as well as physically. Suppressed emotions and limiting beliefs can manifest as symptoms over time.
So allow yourself to fully feel and express any emotions that want to surface during sickness. Make space for tears, anger, grief - whatever needs to move through you. Support this emotional detox just as you would a physical cleanse.
Have compassion for this purging process, even though it may be difficult and painful at times. Remember that you are shedding and releasing old layers in order to make space for the new growth awaiting you on the other side.
Trust this vital release.
On a physical level, you may go through cleansing reactions as your body pushes out toxins. Your symptoms may worsen temporarily as stuff is stirred up in order to be expelled. Ride these waves gently, supporting your body's wisdom in needing to go through this.
The Gift is in the Lesson
There is a gift and opportunity within every struggle if we open to receive it. But we must be willing to surrender and learn the lessons first.
Challenge yourself to ask: what is this sickness here to teach me?
Often our illnesses help us to slow down and reconnect with ourselves, realign our priorities, shed limiting patterns or beliefs, and expand our self-care tools. They remind us to take better care of these bodies that we are blessed to inhabit.
What old ways of pushing too hard or not listening to your needs want to fall away?
How can you tap into more joy and presence each day?
What boundaries need to be drawn?
How can you unwind anxiety and overthinking?
Lean into the teachings so you may receive the blessings of this inner wisdom.
What are you willing to receive as gifts from the struggles of illness?
The most profound growth comes when we open to possibility rather than shut down in fear or resistance. See every struggle as an opportunity to strengthen your trust in your body's healing power and your own inner wisdom. There are always jewels to be found if you know how to mine for them.
Physical struggle can provide a doorway for us to tune into body wisdom, let go of what no longer serves, and extract new lessons that ultimately support our highest unfolding. By approaching illness from this holistic perspective, we can unearth its hidden blessings and accelerate our healing on all levels.
Please keep in mind that this is not meant to be medical advice, but things to contemplate during your healing journey.
Have questions as to how a holistic healing approach can serve you when in the midst of a sickness?
My offerings of online coaching and audio programs may be of help. You can check them out HERE.
This blog post was summarized from a Be The Love podcast episode #193: The Spiritual Side of Sickness. Check out the full episode HERE.
