From Healing to Thriving
By Elisa Novick, DSS, Institute for a Thriving Planet
Here’s what thrills me as a healer—when I see the soul come sparkling through a person’s eyes. I don’t know exactly what a soul is or how the soul causes the eyes to sparkle, but when I see it, I know it. The more the soul comes through a person, the greater is her or his potential for a life of joy, loving, mastery, and a higher level of knowledge (inner knowing) and ability. There are other signs: a radiance, tension lines softened, a sense of greater presence and personal power. Creative solutions to previously insurmountable problems appear, quite effortlessly. What makes this so precious is that often it happens on the heels of the release of some ancient holding pattern, one that might have been causing suffering or limitation for many years, lifetimes, or generations.
How do we get to that place? Through becoming someone we are already inside, but have not known how to reach. It has been called by various names—the soul, true self, essence, divine nature. It takes dedication to manifest that part of us as us, but it’s worth it. There are myriad ways to approach. Here is some of what I’ve learned about the process.
Essential Aspects of Healing and Becoming Whole
The healing-maturation process always comprises certain steps or aspects, all necessary for human life to thrive. They don’t necessarily take place in any orderly fashion, though for most, the cleansing process usually begins first, because we have this marvelous tendency to want to be out of suffering. Suffering is what drives most people into the healing process. But we cannot be whole unless all the steps are taken.
Cleansing. With all that we have experienced in our lives, there is no growth that does not include cleansing the consciousness of old wounds, painful memories, familial patterns, negative habits. Often the body also needs to come into balance and the diet cleaned up as part of the healing process. Some try to bypass this step of cleansing, believing that with enough positive affirmation and meditation or good works it is unnecessary, but I’ve never met anyone who did not need to go through this part of the process at some point in their journey. On the other hand, this does not have to be daunting. It is usually scarier to contemplate than to go through. It can actually be characterized by profound depth of feeling, rich insight, and great relief.
Strengthening. Just letting go of old patterns is not enough; we have to gain strength, and change those things that do not work for us. We have to learn to take really good care of ourselves and to act from integrity. An important part of this process is coming into alignment with that which is truer and closer to our essential nature or soul, that part of us which is loving, wise, gorgeous and joyful. As we leave behind the old personality—made up for the most part of reactive, learned, and programmed behaviors—and align to a higher vision or frequency, we step into the magnificence which has been there all along, and begin to take charge of our lives.
Connecting. We are not on this earth to be hermits; we are here to learn through relationship. Relationships give us valuable feedback about who we are and what we still have to work on. In all our relationships we have the opportunity to give and receive love, to practice aligning our actions and emotions with the truth as we perceive it, and to hone our life skills. Moreover, we can come together with others to create and re-create our world. Within such a group, we discover that we access profound understanding and unique abilities that might never show up when we are alone. At the highest level, when we come into a oneness or communion of spirit with others without sacrificing our authentic, sovereign selves, we can create new blueprints for a healed and thriving planet. We become that which we desire to see in the world, and the world begins to respond to the more coherent energetic blueprint. This is another phenomenon that brings me great joy—when the members of a group come into exquisite alignment with one another in consciousness, and spiritual awareness comes present in the group. In this space we become a whole, a being that is greater than the individual parts, able to “download” fresh inspiration, to be of service, to provide loving support, and to do great work beyond anything we can accomplish as individuals.
Systemic Healing. We do not exist in a vacuum. We are part of many interwoven relational systems, and so for healing to be truly holistic, we must also work systemically. Each of us belongs to various communities, including our close relationships, our families, the groups, businesses and institutions in which we participate, and the larger social, political, ethnic, ecological, and planetary systems. We carry within us the memories of our lives and our ancestors, as well as species memory. Whether you call it an intersubjective field, or social intelligence, or cosmic consciousness, the fact is we are connected, and so healing is sharing, is service, and is necessary to our continuance and evolution on this planet.
What’s remarkable about systemic healing is that when a person or small group comes to resolution within the system, it ripples out to all of the members of the system and the system as a whole. You might, for instance, bring an issue to resolution that has been plaguing you, which tracks back in your family for generations, and then go home to discover that the behavior of members of your family has changed. (I believe that the healing moves back in time as well as forward.) Or that the revelations brought forth within your group are now changing the world’s paradigms. Welcome to wonder!
Transcendence. When we transcend, we move up, we move beyond where we have been. We find that many of the things that caused us great disturbance now cannot move us or may even bring laughter. We have proved that we can handle the lessons that have been presented to us, and we can now move into a greater arena.
Any one of these steps can initiate change on any of the other levels. For instance, a cleansing fast or a chiropractic adjustment can raise the vibration enough to uplift the emotions and give us greater spiritual access. Forgiveness can initiate a cleansing of disease or allow the person to become available for greater success and prosperity. And family constellation work can relieve the collective unconscious for many with similar issues.
We need patience and perseverance, because change takes time to integrate, and maturation is lifelong. A single powerful experience may give us a huge boost, but much of the process consists of incremental steps as we move into deeper or more subtle layers and also allow those around us to update with the changes we are making. Fortunately, these explorations are so fascinating and rewarding that we will never be bored.
Service. It is in service that our true beauty comes shining through. We long to be fully utilized in service, to feel that what we do matters. Once we have learned how to fill our own cups to overflowing then we want to give of the overflow. When we can call ourselves forth in loving service, even if those we serve cannot thank us, the spirit inside can flood us with joy and gratitude. That is when we know ourselves as loving, spiritual beings. That is when we are illuminated from within.
Further Reading
To read more about what we can do together to create a thriving planet see: