Forgiveness requires individual changes at many levels. Research in the Harvard Health Publication indicates that forgiveness is powerful. The publication reports that forgiving others and oneself can bring about 5 changes for a healthier and happier life.
(source:  http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/power_of_forgiveness)

Forgiveness brings:

• Reduction of stress
• More positive attitude
• Stronger relationships
• Ease of pain & chronic illness
• Greater happiness

These are significant changes you can make to your life! While you may not be able to imagine discussing forgiveness as a method of healing with your traditional medicine provider, forgiveness is a method of healing that I foster in my practice. Forgiveness is a means of resolution that can create a very positive outcome in your life!

Healing occurs when we are in the correct relationship with ourselves. In other words, we are able to heal when all levels of our human system - our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual selves - are all in balance.

Imbalance within ourselves comes from many sources. Most commonly, the stress of relationships, family, work, and expectations we have of ourselves can cause imbalances in our relationship with ourselves. It is easy to become entangled in negative thought patterns - we may replay situations over and over again in our minds in attempt to imagine different outcomes, or we may perpetuate the victimization we feel in various circumstances.

Carrying strong negative feelings, such as anger and resentment, causes physical symptoms and diseases. Harboring negative thoughts benefits no one! In order to move from imbalance to balance within ourselves, we must let go of old grudges, anger, frustrations, and hurtful incidents. Letting go means forgiving.

Forgiveness is not:

• Pretending everything is fine
• Repressing anger or hurt feelings
• Necessarily reconciling or having contact with the offender
• Something you can be pressured to do
• Forgetting. You can learn to remember the past without dwelling on the emotions!

There is evidence that forgiveness can lead to a healthier and happier life. Dr. P. Pietrini, MD, PhD. is chair of biochemistry at the University of Pisa, Italy. He used an MRI to observe different parts of the brain. Parts of the brain were activated when subjects contemplated forgiveness that were not activated with thoughts of revenge and retaliation. This is physical evidence that our thoughts cause physical changes in the body.

Traditional medicine may help you cope with the physical symptoms of imbalance within yourself. As a Holistic Nurse, I will work with the whole person - your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual realms - in order to help you make positive changes, take control of your life, and find balance within yourself.

Whether you are seeing the forest or the trees, there is a realization that everything is connected.  This is a holistic principle that I emphasize in my life and in my private practice as a Holistic Nurse.  The integration of the mind, body, and spirit is key to caring for – and healing – the whole person.  It is important to recognize that healing is very different from curing.  

Curing is the elimination of the signs and symptoms of disease, which may or may not correspond to the actual end of the disease or distress.  Curing follows a predictable path, and it is the prominent approach in our current sick care system.  Curing focuses on the physical body.  We can become so focused on the reduction or removal of physical symptoms that we ignore or forget about our mental, emotional and spiritual health necessary to complete the process.

Healing is multidimensional, and includes the mental, emotional, and spiritual components of the human system.  Curing may not always be possible, but healing is always possible!  Healing occurs when all levels of the human system are in the correct relationship.  The healing process emerges over time.

Consider this example: A person can take a pill for a severe headache, and the headache will go away.  This is curing.  The same person knows that the headache is caused by work stress.  As the work stress continues, the headaches will also continue – and possibly even worsen.  Until the person can create the proper relationship with their mental and physical health in the stressful work environment, the physical symptoms will reoccur.  This person may be able to experience healing through changes in attitude and the removal of negative thought patterns.

Here are two examples of healing: A person dying of AIDS is able to reconcile with their parents after a long separation.  And, a recent quadriplegic is able to refocus his life in a way to recommit himself to a life of service and meaning.  In these cases, the physical symptoms will most likely never change, but the healing does occur.

You will find that care in my practice is not about a quick fix of symptoms.  If I were to only recommend a supplement to eliminate symptoms, the lack of breadth of the treatment would be no better than the sick care system.  In my practice, holistic health is integrated into all aspects of my patients’ lives.  Healing patients is the goal of my practice.

(“Holistic Nursing: A Handbook for Practice,” Dossey, Keegan, Guzzetta, 2005)

With the start of both public school and University classes, many of our schedules become more structured with the increase of day-to-day activity demands. Even if your schedule is not directly affected by the start of the school year, you undoubtedly notice the traffic patterns changing, and the anticipation of fall and winter is in the air. I think this time of year is more stressful than any other time. 

Did you know there is a way to take responsibility for abandoning the unhealthy cycle of stress and negative thinking? Reiki is a non-invasive healing technique that we can all learn.

Reiki heals by flowing through the affected parts of the person’s physical body and energy field. Reiki rebalances the person with positive energy. Reiki raises the vibrations of the energy field in and around the physical body at specific places and organs that carry negative thoughts and feelings, which causes the negative energy to break apart and fall away. In doing so, Reiki clears, straightens, and heals the energy pathways, thus, allowing the life force to flow in a healthy and natural way throughout the energy field and the physical body. 

For more information on Reiki, go to my website under services: Karuna Reiki.

We have all fallen into patterns of stress and negative thinking at times. Did you know that stress and negative thinking patterns affect our physical well being? Take this information into consideration…

The everyday stress we encounter affects our well being. We are alive because life force/innate is flowing through us. Life force/innate nourishes the organs and cells of the body, and it supports the organs in their vital functions. The flow of life force is disrupted by short or long-term stress and illness. Stress and illness cause diminished functioning in one or more of the organs and tissues of our physical selves.

Negative thoughts can literally make us physically ill. The individual life force/innate we all have is responsive to thoughts, feelings and physical well being. It becomes disrupted when we have negative thoughts or feelings about our self and our body. These negative thoughts and feelings cause a disruption in the flow of life force, which diminishes the vital function of the organs and cells of our physical bodies. If this pattern continues, we can become physically ill. Hence, the comment we have all heard: “I have worried myself sick.”

You can be responsible for alleviating stress and negative thinking! Read next week’s blog for ways Reiki can help.