Everything Is A Symptom Of Healing
Ever had one of those weeks where literally everything goes to pieces? I had one of those this past spring, and it was a doozey. I had just recovered from a respiratory infection when I got slammed with a UTI. A few days later, I woke up with an intense eczema flare-up on my eyelids, swelling them shut. I was supposed to be working with a videographer the next day to film an online class. To say I was stressed when I woke up looking, and feeling, like I had walked into a wasp’s nest, was an understatement. I was panicked. Inevitably, I started to fall into a familiar pattern— blaming myself for not taking better care of my body. Criticizing myself for not being spiritually in-tune enough to recognize that I had been draining the well, and wondering, painfully, if this was some kind of punishment.
My body tends to be a very loud communicator. Whenever I am spiritually, physically or emotionally depleted, I manifest a whole, very colorful variety, of health issues. Every time a new body ailment crops up, a part of me panics. As someone whose journey has been marked by chronic pain and illness, there is always that lingering subterranean fear that I could backslide at any moment. But then, I take a deep breath and remember the one crystal clear awareness that came out of all those years of hardship— everything, truly, is a symptom of healing.
Remembering this is like applying a cool chickweed compress to the hot fear of the moment. It has the power to dissolve all my self-judgment and help me see that, what I had assumed to be punishment, was actually an opportunity for self-gentleness. And in this particular moment, it was just the reminder I needed. I let the tears come to my swollen eyes and I softened completely into the message my body was trying to bring me— it’s time to rest. So I did, and it was exactly the healing my spirit needed.
It’s common, when we have a health problem, to feel like we failed. Especially for those of us who dedicate our lives to learning how to take good care of our bodies. Having a health crisis sets up a direct trigger for a spiritual crisis where we begin to question everything, including the meaning of it all. But the basic truth of the world is that we are always moving back towards balance, and even the most challenging conditions are symptoms of our attempts to heal. A fever is the way our body tries to burn out a bug. Coughing is how we expel bacteria from our lungs. Even autoimmune conditions, like my unfortunate eczema-swollen eyelids, are indicative of our body trying to use inflammation to heal— and usually a sign of a deeper issue that needs our loving attention, like an undiagnosed food allergy or a treacherously high stress level.
Sometimes I think the most healing thing of all is to have your health go down the toilet and be able to say— I still believe healing is possible. In truth, the most toxic part of getting sick is often the story we tell ourselves about ourselves when we are going through a hard time. What causes the most enduring pain of all isn’t necessarily the physical symptoms, but the emotional anguish of feeling like we are somehow doing it (aka. life) wrong.
But, as is so often the case in our beautiful, complex, contradictory world, the truth is often the exact opposite. The hardest things that happen in your life are symptomatic, not of your deficiency or doom, but of the powerful healing that is trying to take place. In my new video Everything is a Symptom of healing I reframe the culture of guilt we have around illness, pain and dis-ability so we can reclaim our spirits, and our hope, to see that everything we are experiencing, in our bodies and in the earth at large, is truly a symptom of healing.
It’s easy to look around the world at times and feel like we are watching a slow implosion. But, like a witty illusionist drawing, if you take the time to walk around to the other side of something that seems like it’s falling apart, you can often see that it is also coming together.
What would change if we were able to shift our perspective to truly believe that everything was a symptom of healing? How would we speak to ourselves differently? How would we feel about our own journeys? What kind of hope could we resurrect for the fate of the earth? And how would that hope, that gentleness, help us to step even more strongly into our gifts?
If you need this mantra today, or perhaps might need it in the future, tuck this into your back pocket for those moments when your belief seems to extinguish like a candle on a windy night and repeat it to yourself like the mantra of a kind brook.
Everything
Everything
Everything
is a symptom of healing.
Let yourself feel that truth.
This is so important. I gave birth to my first baby in august, a big beautiful boy! I’ve been experiencing pretty severe bladder prolapse since. It has opened my eyes to the limits of how much I can store in my pelvis , past trauma, emotions, shame, and the medicine of supporting myself right where I am. I know this is the gateway I’ve waited for to get into the deepest levels of healing that are needed, even though it’s not how I would have chosen. I’m taking a swan dive into the pussy portal and loving it. Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you so much for sharing with us here Rachel. Your story is so powerful. I can feel the strength behind and within you, and I just want to take this moment to honor you for all that you are healing– in yourself, your lineage and this world. Biggest hugs to you XX
So crazy to come upon this today as just this past week, I have had similar thoughts and feelings towards a physical health issue that has presented for the past month that I have never dealt with before and I know it has an array of reasons why it is happening. I have been hypercritical of myself for not eating and working out my body properly and feeling so much at fault for the issue I am having. Thinking of all that is happening with my body right now as a symptom of healing makes me feel less critical of myself and recognize that the issue I am having has some weight attached to it from releasing and attempting to heal some old trauma. It makes me feel I did my part to heal and release trauma energy and now it manifests as physical ailment and I will be seeing a medical doctor about the issue to further heal and get everything back in balance again. So thankful as I go into later today’s diagnostic medical exam to have come accrossed your youtube video and website as it gives me more confidence and comfort in the process and shifitng the power back to myself of my healing as I have felt disempowered for about 4 weeks. Thank you for the uplifting and empowering message that I am experiencing a symptom of healing. 😊💖
Wow, Asia. Thank you. After attending a university for two years and becoming unhappy with each passing day, I finally made the decision to take a leave of absence to take time for myself to lead a new path. The decision was agonizing, but when I made the leap towards my well-being, I woke up the next morning with an excruciating wisdom tooth infection. Fast forward a week later and here I am, a week of antibiotics down, another ahead of me. A wisdom tooth removed. I have not had antibiotics in my system for maybe sixteen years, therefore this has been very difficult for me. I was worried I was failing my body, though I was constantly reminding myself that all of this is a symptom of healing and that I will heal and I will be better for it. Your words hit me at the right moment. Feeling anxious and in contradiction with myself and my beliefs/values, I watched your video and my cheeks nearly grew wet with tears. Thank you for your wisdom, for you generous thoughts, for your healing. And thank you for allowing me to ramble, if you made it this far.
Very timely for me as I was just having a wave 🌊 of “fear” roll over me. Regarding change.
I do realize all is happening for my good though not necessarily in that moment when the wave 🌊 seems to encompass me.
Thankful for your words and video of wisdom
With gratitude 🙏🏻
Thank you Asia! So timely on many levels… making the shift in thinking, grateful for “symptoms of healing”.
thanks Asia! I love this.
This was so welcome and timely as I suffered what I felt was a huge healing setback this past week. As you stated, it can be deflating and defeating. I am in deep gratitude for this change in perspective, not only for myself, but also as we look to the whole world.
I am right there with you in the healing Brianne. Sending great waves of love your way.
thank you for articulating this. in my ongoing and imperfect attempts to keep despair at bay when i think of the state of the world, i have had moments in which i thought, “what if everything is falling apart because it has to fall apart before it comes together again?” it doesn’t change the fact that many are suffering (humans, other creatures, the earth as a whole), nor that we will undergo losses and griefs and that our children will inherit this mess. but it provides a measure of hope…if i admit the possibility that this is part of a healing crisis, then there is hope. and with hope, action for positive change becomes easier and stronger. i am capable of doing the right thing in the absence of hope, but having the mindset that “everything is a symptom of healing” is transformative.
There is hope… thank you so much for articulating this dear heart. I am right there with you.
Woah, truly feeling this as we are currently in the health crisis in my family. These words have given me the fuel to keep doing the good work. Thanks Asia!
Thank you for reading Farai! I am sending much love and deep healing to you and your family.
Hi Asia, this is a paradigm shifter! In the medical world I remember learning that there is the phenomenon referred to as “homeostasis” which is the body’s constant effort to return to balance and health. Taking that everything is a symptom of healing a step farther, it recently came into my consciousness that everything that happens doesn’t happen TO us everything happens FOR us. These realizations are so important to help us not to go into the tempting “poor little me” response to the events in our lives and to trust the healing process and to trust that here is a bigger picture and we may or we may never realize what that is during this journey on Earth. For me, it’s so important to remember (I love your mantra!) and to TRUST. Thank you for your wisdom and insight!
Thank you so much for this comment Cathy! I resonate with you so completely with you on this and I think you’ve put it into words perfectly. Deep gratitude for sharing.