Illness as a Guide to Growth
(Written in 2014) I’m so excited I’m sick! No, I haven’t lost my grip…I’m just framing this as a sign that I’m upleveling my life. This idea came from Shelley Riutta through the Global Association for Holistic Psychotherapy. She gave an enlightening description of two ways sickness may be a sign that you are on the cusp of personal growth and change.
The first way is the way I’m choosing to frame my current illness, which is upleveling. In other words, I’m creating my Vision for how I plan to grow my capacity to serve as a healing guide for others, which then bumps against dense, stuck energy in my body that is not in alignment with this Vision. My body, in turn, begins releasing that stuck energy and the location of the illness is where the energy was stuck and is being released. So, for me, the two areas of my body which are involved are my throat and chest. I frame this as throat chakra and heart chakra. My interpretation of that is, as I’m growing more and more as a speaker, presenter, and holistic coach, I am claiming my voice to share and educate about holistic healing and what it can do for people. I’m withdrawing more of my heart energy from psychotherapy, which I’ve poured my heart and soul into for over 20 years, and directing it toward the new healing work in holistic coaching and counseling. I’m moving far away from the medical model of illness and closer to the holistic model of wellness and healing. All of this movement, clearing, and shifting feels so much more aligned with what I intend to do in the rest of this lifetime. So, again, I’m really excited that I’m sick since I view it as my body’s way of letting go of the old and embracing the new!
The second way Shelley articulated our bodies utilize illness is through our Conditioned Self. You might think about your Conditioned Self as the part of you that bought into all of the fear-based beliefs, negative thoughts, constricting ideas, and unhealthy behaviors and your Authentic Self as the healthy part of you that knows your personal truth, what you are here to accomplish, and isn’t sullied by negativity and fear. The more we operate from our Authentic Self, the better things are in our lives, the more smoothly things flow, and the happier we feel. The more we operate from our Conditioned Self, the worse we feel, the more off-course we drift, and the more complicated and difficult life becomes.
Illness can be a way that our Conditioned Self uses to prevent us from doing things that would create healing breakthroughs for us. In traditional thinking, when someone is sick, s/he should stay home and nurse the illness. In Shelley’s model, when you are sick, that may be the ideal time to do your work! Attend your coaching session, listen to that motivational call, write down that idea that keeps circling your brain. In other words, ACT. Create that breakthrough your Conditioned Self fears and you may notice that the illness designed to prevent you from proceeding actually dissipates quickly.
Try this framework for understanding an illness you’re experiencing, whether chronic or acute. Pay attention to the area of your body affected by the illness and what that area is designed to do. Do some journaling about this and just notice what insights begin to surface. You may be surprised by the wealth of knowledge an illness has to offer!