illness | Tuesdays with Laurie

Similar yet Different by Laurie Buchanan

When a dandelion flower matures, its Uranium yellow flower gives way to a puff ball full of parachuting seeds. Similar, yet different—that’s what I’m trying to convey with this photograph. Healing and curing are not the same. Caroline Myss defines the difference between healing and curing as follows in her book, Anatomy of the Spirit—The Seven Stages of Power and Healing:

“Healing and curing are not the same thing. A ‘cure’ occurs when one has successfully controlled or abated the physical progression of an illness. Curing a physical illness, however, does not necessarily mean that the emotional and psychological stresses that were a part of the illness were also alleviated. In this case it is highly possible, and often probably, than an illness will recur.

The process of curing is passive; that is, the patient is inclined to give his or her authority over to the physician and prescribed treatment instead of actively challenging the illness and reclaiming health.

Healing, on the other hand, is an active and internal process that includes investigating one’s attitudes, memories, and beliefs with the desire to release all negative patterns that prevent one’s full emotional and spiritual recovery. This internal review inevitably leads one to review one’s external circumstances in an effort to recreate one’s life in a way that serves activation of will—the will to see and accept truths about one’s life and how one has used one’s energies; and the will to begin to use the energy for the creation of love, self-esteem, and health.”

Do you agree or disagree with the definitions?
Have you ever experienced curing?
Have you ever experienced healing?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan

www.HolEssence.com
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Buchanan — All Rights Reserved.

Pins and Needles by Laurie Buchanan

Do you find yourself dancing a wicked two-step with emotions such as depression, anxiety, or stress? Do these feelings jab at you like pins and needles in an otherwise beautiful existence?

Depression is about the past. It’s about something we lost, or perceive that we lost. It takes a great deal of energy to dwell in the past. For many, this is a place where anger and resentment reside. What’s more, worrying about the past can’t change anything that’s already occurred. That’s impossible. What’s done is done. It is what it is.

Anxiety is about the future. It’s about uncertainty; the unknown, the “What ifs?” Like the past, it also takes a great deal of energy to dwell in the future. For many, this is a place where fear resides. There’s not a single person in the history of mankind who has changed a future outcome through worry.

Stress is current. It’s how we cope with the present moment; the here and now. As a Holistic Health Practitioner, I can tell you that up to 90% of all illness is stress-related. Prolonged stress leads to a weakened immune system and the development of illness—body, mind and spirit.

As my friend Mary says, “Stress is not an event — it’s a reaction to an event.” We don’t always have a choice about the circumstance in which we find ourselves, but we always have a choice about how we react to it.

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
~ Laurie Buchanan

Tuesdays with Laurie

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." —Laurie Buchanan

Tag Archives: illness

Curing and Healing – The Difference

Pins and Needles