The Intimacy of Healing

So we are all familiar with our booties hanging out of the hospital nightie or whatever they call that one size fits all piece of cloth that has confusing ties around the back leaving the proverbial gapping drafts under one’s arms and up their thighs. I guess most of us would nod and say yep that’s the intimacy part we share with stranger who becomes our healer while in hospital, but yet for these healers there is nothing intimate about us baring our booties. It seems for the healers many of us are just another booty that will soon be labeled, medicated, and sent along our merry (or not so merry) way.
For the afflicted, the intimacy of healing takes place when we are brave enough to share our stories, believe that they matter to whomever we share them with, AND take the necessary time out (regardless of the messaging witnessed in that very clever and swank new Cadillac commercial) to remain quiet enough to listen to our own bodies for clues and dare I say, to the disapproval of some MD’s, seek guidance from this simple act of just listening. The prerequisite: trust. Trusting in the truth of what one is feeling is real and has value regardless of what anyone else medically trained or not is telling us. It is this intimacy of learning to listen to our body’s dictates that seems to me leads us to dabble in the mystical realm that generates medical phenomena or as a dear southern friend of mine would say, ‘just a damned miracle’ — that remains possible and even probable for all.
These tests of faith are not so easy or obvious while draped in a hospital gown, yet if we are to embody a continuous streak of health and well being listening to one’s body appears to be paramount.
What if our medical world began issuing this simple affirmation during office check ups or even in hospital stays: “No one knows your body, like you do.” Repeat. Again, repeat. Or what if our medical practitioners began posing this illuminating question to their patients, “What is your body telling you? “ Blank stares notwithstanding, it is only human nature to begin contemplating an answer. There already is strong evidence supporting higher rates of successful recovery when we become our own health advocates. Let’s take this a step further and increase our healing intimacy, be courageous enough to ask questions, take the necessary time to listen, share, and trust in our own truths. Oh yeah and expect a damned miracle.
N’est pas?
Stay True