Vaishnavi Kalpesh
Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies
Healing is never about fixing what is “broken”, because nothing ever is. It is simply
about restoring the conscious awareness of reality, forgiveness, betterment, and
growth – which might have taken a backseat due to certain experiences, stress or
emotional or psychological pressures from the environment.
No dramatic miracle heals, no fine morning feels like an epiphany of relief; it has
always been a gradual process, a journey, and one that takes an abundance of time,
effort and patience from all parties involved. The true process of truly relieving
oneself of the bruises of the past often requires us to first recognize what had gone
wrong, maybe on our part, maybe on others’. Recognition of actions, mistakes and
patterns just brings a tonne of relief to the human mind, in the form of coherence and consonance between events and consequences- not knowing why someone said
something or what caused a certain situation often causes a lot of distress as we are
unable to link different events or connect certain dots between our behaviors and
others’.
Retrospection of events with someone trained to analyse and explain them,
preferably a psychological professional, helps begin the journey of healing by first
acknowledging that something needs attention, and in what exact way.
Then come in the actual rough waters, the unlearning of conditionings, the
shattering of shackles, the stitching up of wounds. This is probably the stage most
people think of when they hear the word “recovery” or “healing”, and for a good
reason – it takes up the most energy. It is emotionally draining and often might feel
like a Sisyphean torture; repetitive, frustrating and with no end. But that is where
we are proven wrong.
The journey is based on the cycle of up and down, light and dark, start and finish.
When the sun sets with the promise of a new dawn, we look forward to another
morning. Every season turns into the next one, leaving us with an assurance of
returning next year. And similarly, every cycle of healing begins with the guarantee
of ending in a way that leaves you in a better position and with a good lesson.
The healing truly works if you allow it go as deep as the wound ran, replace every
internalized distortion of thoughts or feelings, and consciously allow you to believe
something that is in better consonance with an improved self-esteem. Healing is an
inside job; and it is never objective. There is no correct way of grieving, rejoicing,
mourning, celebrating or most importantly, recovering. If experiences are
subjective, the response to them should be too.
The only point that should matter is that no matter what path we take for this,
every step should be one towards mindfulness – awareness of self and our
surroundings. Awareness is what helps us truly accept the past and the present and
then further curate the world we truly desire. Awareness is what strengthens
gratitude – for self, for others and for life.
When little by little, it becomes a lot, this gratitude is what keeps our healing
journey on its track while we explore our next mission to conquer. At the end, with
this gratitude in our hearts and a new-found meaning and perspective to view our
past experiences, the journey of healing crescendos into the most beautiful melody
of positive thoughts
