Friday, September 12, 2008
Healing yourself can help you be more compassionate to others
The grocery store scene was profoundly disturbing. I’m not surprised by things coming up in the check-out line; impatience (sometimes my own), indifference to each other maybe, and on a good day some kindness.
Yesterday there was anger in that line because someone left for a minute and came back. It happened between two people and escalated into a tirade of racial slurs on one side and quiet tolerance on the other. The cashier caught in the line of fire avoided taking sides to diffuse the tension.
I found myself filled with negativity towards the aggressor yet I know that kind of violence always comes from deep woundedness and so tried my best to muster some compassion for that person as well. I know when I don’t attend to healing my own wounded places I am most apt to hurt others. Giving attention to healing them is the entry point for growth and change. “The crack is where the light comes in,” in the words of author Leonard Cohen.
These are challenging and extraordinary times in many ways, from politics, to healthcare, from the global crisis to the economy. The burgeoning strain can create fear and an illusion of separation, an us-against-them attitude, when really the planet and this life on it belongs to us all.
Our best contribution requires us to do our own personal work, to strengthen our interior life and what will spring from that place will unite rather than separate us. It is where tolerance, integrity and compassion are manifest. It is where our inner wisdom guides us whether we are healing from disease or despair, yearning for more peace and balance in our lives or knowing we could be living with more joy.
Whatever your practice or path, now is the time to attend to healing personally so that collectively we can be prepared to support peace, tolerance and global health.
In the words of the poet Juan Jimenez:
I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.
The intent of all of our programs at the Backus Hospital Center for Healthcare Integration (CHI) is to encourage people to be actively involved in their wellness, to access their inner healer, and to reconnect with their health and wholeness.
A four part series “Awakening the Inner Healer” is being offered for people who are living with cancer. On Thursday, September 18, Dr. Peter D’Adamo, naturopathic physician and best selling author of Eat Right 4 Your Type, Cancer – Fight It With The Blood Type Diet will speak on “Survivorship: How naturopathic type nutrition strategies can turn you into an exceptional cancer patient”.
Amy Dunion, a registered nurse and massage therapist, is Coordinator of The William W. Backus Hospital’s Center for Healthcare Integration. This column should not replace advice or instruction from your personal physician. E-mail Dunion and all of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org, or comment on their blog at backushospital.org.
Yesterday there was anger in that line because someone left for a minute and came back. It happened between two people and escalated into a tirade of racial slurs on one side and quiet tolerance on the other. The cashier caught in the line of fire avoided taking sides to diffuse the tension.
I found myself filled with negativity towards the aggressor yet I know that kind of violence always comes from deep woundedness and so tried my best to muster some compassion for that person as well. I know when I don’t attend to healing my own wounded places I am most apt to hurt others. Giving attention to healing them is the entry point for growth and change. “The crack is where the light comes in,” in the words of author Leonard Cohen.
These are challenging and extraordinary times in many ways, from politics, to healthcare, from the global crisis to the economy. The burgeoning strain can create fear and an illusion of separation, an us-against-them attitude, when really the planet and this life on it belongs to us all.
Our best contribution requires us to do our own personal work, to strengthen our interior life and what will spring from that place will unite rather than separate us. It is where tolerance, integrity and compassion are manifest. It is where our inner wisdom guides us whether we are healing from disease or despair, yearning for more peace and balance in our lives or knowing we could be living with more joy.
Whatever your practice or path, now is the time to attend to healing personally so that collectively we can be prepared to support peace, tolerance and global health.
In the words of the poet Juan Jimenez:
I am not I.
I am this one
walking beside me whom I do not see,
whom at times I manage to visit,
and whom at other times I forget;
who remains calm and silent while I talk,
and forgives, gently, when I hate,
who walks where I am not,
who will remain standing when I die.
The intent of all of our programs at the Backus Hospital Center for Healthcare Integration (CHI) is to encourage people to be actively involved in their wellness, to access their inner healer, and to reconnect with their health and wholeness.
A four part series “Awakening the Inner Healer” is being offered for people who are living with cancer. On Thursday, September 18, Dr. Peter D’Adamo, naturopathic physician and best selling author of Eat Right 4 Your Type, Cancer – Fight It With The Blood Type Diet will speak on “Survivorship: How naturopathic type nutrition strategies can turn you into an exceptional cancer patient”.
Amy Dunion, a registered nurse and massage therapist, is Coordinator of The William W. Backus Hospital’s Center for Healthcare Integration. This column should not replace advice or instruction from your personal physician. E-mail Dunion and all of the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org, or comment on their blog at backushospital.org.
# posted by ----------------- @ 1:43 PM 
