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Creating and Holding A Space for Healing; Your Inner Self Knows the Answers

  • By Conscious Commerce
  • 11 May, 2016
By Daniel J. Benor, MD
The careseeker often comes with the expectation that the caregiver will provide the answers to what is causing the problem and the best recommendations for what to do about it. This is particularly true in conventional medical care.
Even when they are ready and eager to share their experiences, views and opinions, careseekers often complain that their doctor does not want to listen to them. This is not an isolated complaint. A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 1984 reported that doctors listen to patients on the average for eighteen seconds before interrupting them.
This is not a new problem. Sir William Osler, at the beginning of the 20th Century recommended to his students and colleagues, “Listen to the patient. He is telling you the diagnosis.”
And the problem is getting worse all the time. Dr. Benjamin Natelson noted in a New York Times article in 2008 that “fewer and fewer doctors, constrained by time and the economics of our health care system, are willing to perform the fundamental task of diagnosing difficult or unclear medical problems.”
Modern medicine is symptom-focused. This is the effect of medication-based interventions, the most common offering of the medical profession, in addition to the problems imposed by time constraints. And this approach is becoming institutionalized and bureaurocratized. In Health Canada a recent rule was established, limiting patients to one problem per medical visit.
The same problems may be true with Complementary/ Alternative medicine (CAM) therapists. Indoctrinated by the conventional medical approach, many are focusing on symptoms rather than on the whole person. Again we might well heed the advice of Osler: “We must treat the person who has the disease and not just the disease the person has.”
Listening to the careseeker
I help people to find relief through self-treatment for pains of all sorts. Many who have had their pains for years are surprised to be invited to listen to what their pain is telling them about their lives. Within moments, most are able to come up with one or more inner messages.

Margie suffered from knee pains for more than ten years. She had participated very actively in school sports and had done a lot of jogging until her knee pains sidelined her permanently at age 34. X-rays showed her knees, particularly the right one, had damage to the cartilage.

Having seen research on the internet showing that knee surgery is no better than a placebo, Margie opted for non-invasive treatments. However, she was unhappy with the side effects of pain pills, and physiotherapy provided no relief.

Margie came for TWR because she wanted help to deal with her pain, expecting nothing more than symptom management for pain that was at a level of 6-7 on a scale of 10. She was surprised when I invited her to look deeper within herself by dialoguing with her knees to ask what her unconscious mind was wanting to tell her about her life.

She closed her eyes and it took but a few moments for her to hear her inner self speaking to her about needing to stand up for herself and to assert herself more on her job. She grew very thoughtful as she considered this message, admitting that she was so shy, her boss really hadn’t gotten a true measure of her capabilities. Her pain at this point was at 4.

Inviting her next to discuss with her pain what she could do differently in her job, again she quickly came up with suggestions she could readily implement in order to change the impression she was presenting at work. Her pain went down between a 1 and a 2.

Asking whether she was ready to release all of her pain at that point, she got a clear “No.” Her pain felt she would probably need reminders to stick with her new plan of action.

I could not have known with as much clarity, nor as quickly, what the problems were behind Margie’s knee pain. She was her own best therapist!
This is true of most people. Within minutes they can identify what the issues are in their lives that are needing attention. Just as quickly, they can see what they can change in order to be free of the complaints, requests and reminders their unconscious mind is sending them through their pains and other symptoms.
While there are times when the therapist can and needs to be of help in uncovering the issues behind people’s symptoms, very often they are very capable of discovering these on their own. One of the places where help is often needed is in connecting the dots to release inner child or past life issues that are contributing to current problems. This is the subject of another article.
You may reproduce all or parts of this article in your journal, magazine, ezine, blog or other web or paper publication on condition that you credit the source as follows: Copyright © 2008 Daniel J. Benor, MD, ABHM   All rights reserved. Original publication at WholisticHealingResearch.com where you will find many more related articles on this and similar subjects of wholistic healing.
 
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