The Heart of Healing

"The Heart of Healing" describes the lifelong journey home to our heart and authentic Self that occurs through healing. It reveals how this journey and Self-care practices guide us to empowering discoveries at the heart, or core, of our being. Healing is a continuous process, not a single life event, and it is stimulated each time we commit to showing up, being present, and connecting with our heart’s pathway. Healing begins with the heart, and all paths lead back to the heart. During my early years as a physical therapist, I came to a realization about healing that has stayed with me to this day – we will experience many healing journeys from the moment we are born. This book is based on a core belief that developed from this awareness – healing is a lifelong process of growth and development. Healing begins with the journey back to our hearts, often initially encountered when we face a health crisis, pain, distress, or disease – a lack of ease in our physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual being. Too often, our hearts are torn because we have fallen into dualistic thinking and living. Guided by either/or choices, we perceive individuals and situations as good or bad, right or wrong, this way or that way, rather than being open to both options. Returning to our heart transports us to a multidimensional world with beginnings and endings, joy and grief, pain and possibility, love and loss, beauty and the beast. "The Heart of Healing" is written for anyone who finds life turned upside down and difficult in the face of: • physical illness as a result of shock, trauma, disease and/or disability • emotional challenges such as shock, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or anxiety • mental stress from overload, exhaustion, and burnout related to daily living and/or unchallenged attitudes, beliefs, and habits that no longer serve • spiritual dark nights of the soul—an overall sense of emptiness, aloneness, disconnection, loss. and lack of purpose and meaning "The Heart of Healing" is written for anyone seeking to learn more about healing, and how to be more active in their healing process. The clients I worked with for thirty years were empowered through this educational process. Each theme within "The Heart of Healing" will guide you on an individual journey that is about heart and meaning, and a path to your authentic Self. As you learn, grow, and gain insights on this journey, you will find answers to several questions: • What is healing? • How does healing impact my whole being? • Which theme(s) do I encounter during healing challenges? • How can the themes, expanded awareness, compassion, and mindfulness benefit and enhance my healing process? Your awareness will also deepen as you read, reflect, journal, and consistently participate in Self-care practices at the end of each chapter. These practices will help you discover ways to ground, integrate, and practically apply new insights. Your ability to use internal and external guidance, resources, and support will also be enhanced and will empower you and your healing process. The themes, process of Self-inquiry, awareness-tracking tools, and Self-care practices in each chapter are simple, easy to follow, and build upon one another. They can be used independently, in groups, and in self-directed or counseling formats. These strategies expand body-mind awareness and enhance Self-love, confidence, trust, and inner peace. A more purposeful and meaningful life will be manifested as you practically apply and integrate experiences and insights learned during healing. It is my hope that this book helps to create a bridge for all of us, from where we are now to where we seek to be in our healing process, growth and development, and human evolution. The bridge will be formed from what we discover during archaeological digs and scavenger hunts on our healing journeys, where understanding, answers, and meaning are sought.