Cultivating a Carefree Spirit
When a person is sick, oftentimes the first thing they do is look outside themselves for healing – to a doctor, to medicine, an herb – believing that they lack the ability to heal and must find that power elsewhere. And while it is certainly true that a doctor can repair a broken bone, medicine can relieve the pain, and an herb can support an organ system, if the person’s mentality around healing and life in general is not addressed, healing may elude them despite the best care, medicine, and nutrition given to them. Healing is not an outward-in phenomenon, it’s inward-out. It always begins inside you with the belief that you can heal and an attitude of joy.
The Lesson From The Salmon
The salmon teaches us the easiest way to complete her seemingly impossible journey upstream, against the current, is to leap! This playful dance of salmon leaping out of the water, finding the reverse current to pull them further upstream, then leaping again reminds us that often the easiest way is also the fun way! It’s all about perspective. Some may look at the salmon and lament the work and effort needed to swim and leap all the way up a river. But a child would giggle in delight at the salmon’s antics. Do you look for opportunities for struggle or opportunities for play?
When faced with an illness, disease, or any other form of compromised well-being, we choose our perspective – woe unto me vs. how will this serve me? Things don’t happen to us, they happen for us. From the mundane to the most traumatizing events in our lives, they are all opportunities for growth, learning, and taking control of our emotions and reactions.
Healing With The Mind
In the best healing protocols, the first thing addressed is a person’s mental health – their belief systems, traumas and triggers, and attitude about life. Changing old patterns of negativity and of viewing life as a struggle and freeing oneself from old stories and traumas can alone bring more healing to a person than any medical protocol. So why is this rarely addressed? In addition to modern medicine’s lack of respect for the power of the mind, changing thought and behavior patterns is also the most difficult change a person can make because it is often so deeply rooted into their sense of self.
So how can you begin to adopt a carefree spirit?
Identify your belief system around healing. Put words to your feelings and be honest with yourself about whether you believe you can heal or not. Then you can begin choosing a new thought pattern, affirming your belief in healing, visualizing yourself healed, and consciously connecting to the feeling of healing in the body.
Start a gratitude journal. Everyday, record at least one thing you are grateful for. You can think of the best thing that happened that day or the worst or most difficult thing that happened and find something in it to be grateful for.
Forgive – yourself and others. A lovingkindness meditation, often called a metta meditation, can move your towards forgiveness of yourself and others. If there is a deeper trauma involved, childhood trauma healing may be in order.
Set aside time everyday for play and fun – no objective, which excludes most “games.” Coloring, gardening, playing with pets or children, dancing, singing, whatever brings you joy!
Practice presence and grounding – go outside, in contact with the earth, pay attention to the plants and animals. Practice deep breathing, sound meditations, or anything that brings you into full awareness and connection with your senses.
Give Yourself Grace
This is not an overnight process, so don’t get down if you catch yourself back in old thought patterns. Don’t run from them, heal them. When a limiting thought pops up, ask yourself why you feel this way instead of
pushing the thought away. Suppressing negative beliefs doesn’t help you any more than allowing yourself to have them. Instead, take them as an opportunity for healing.
If you would like help cultivating a more carefree attitude towards life, consider a wellness coaching session. Together we can discover the barriers keeping you from living a joy-filled life!
Be well everyone!
