A Call to Live

Many people never really appreciate what a blessing health is until illness or injury suddenly change the course of their lives.

If you are ill, in pain, frustrated, anxious and despondent, you may feel that you have reached a very low point in your life. But it need not be so – if you are willing to hear the deeper message your illness or injury is sending you. It is a call to live?! If your normal life has been disrupted, it is to teach you to be more fully aware of the preciousness of life, so that you will live your life with greater purpose each day and every moment up to the very last.

By heeding this call, you can transform what you are going through now into a profound learning experience that will open up new dimensions in your life and bring you to deeper fulfillment and happiness.

You surely want to heal in order to be able to achieve all your goals in life. Then don’t wait until you are feeling better before you start living. There is no more effective way to encourage the healing process than by living your life to the full extent that you can now.

To be healed is to be able to live life to the full. Living well is a skill, which, like any other, can only be developed through practice. Practice now! Decide that you are going to live now. Making this decision is one of the most important steps you will take to recovery.

LIVING ON A HIGHER LEVEL

Physical and other limitations may make it difficult for you to continue with many of your usual activities at present. But don’t grieve over what you can’t do. Instead, think about all the things you can do to gibe meaning to your life at this time. Your physical limitations need not prevent you from living an active, fulfilling lie on the mental and spiritual planes. These are precisely the levels within yourself that you should seek to cultivate in order to be truly healed.

Be ready to explore new pathways of mind and soul. Learn how to relax and to meditate. Ponder the meaning of life in this universe. Reflect on your own destiny and purpose. Discover who you really are. Even if you are under stress owing to your physical condition, your medical treatment, emotional, financial or other pressures, be sure to avoid sinking into morbid anxiety and depression. Turn your pain and frustration into prayers. Try to see the positive side of what you are going through.

As you work on yourself, work also to enhance your relationships with others – your dear ones, friends, and all the other people with whom you have contact. If you are experiencing pain and hardship, learn from them to empathize with other people who may also be suffering. Even as you seek to fulfill your personal needs and pursue your purpose in life, take account of the needs and sensitivities of others. Develop your ability to communicate and live cooperatively with those around you. Be willing to learn from everyone.

HEALING THE INNER YOU

Many people think of healing as having to do mainly with the restoration of normal bodily functioning. It is certainly proper to do everything necessary on the physical level in order to bring about recovery. But medicine along is not enough. That is because your body, crucial as it is to your existence in this world, is nevertheless only one part of an even greater whole: YOU.

You are a whole person with your own unique identify, your thoughts, feelings, emotions, needs, desires, memory, reason, imagination, goals, ideals, aspirations…. as well as amazing untapped potential. The essential You, the living, thinking, feeling, creative “I” at the center, is what philosophers and psychologists call the “mind” or “psyche” while religious and mystical traditions call it the “soul” or “spirit”.

A physical illness or injury obviously has far reaching effects on the mind and soul as well as on the body. Your bodily condition directly affects your mental states, your thoughts and feelings. However, the relationship is more than just one-way. Your mental and emotional states, your attitudes, your feelings about yourself and the way you run your life have a decisive influence on your level of physical health, your immunity to illness and injury, the extent to which your body is able to heal, and at what rate.

More than this, your mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing are really the key to your overall happiness in life since your inner life is the very essence of your life. The health of your inner self – your mind and soul – is what makes the difference between a fulfilling, satisfying life and one that is not. There are people who may be technically fit and healthy physically but they really have no life at all because their lives are wasted by emptiness and depression.

Your doctors may be treating you medically to try to cure your body. But as you wait and hope for your body to mend and heal, know that your inner personal healing – healing the bruises of your self and the soul – is primarily in your hands. Since the mind and soul influence the body, the more you succeed in healing and cultivating your inner self, the greater your body’s ability to heal. Therefore the most important contribution is by working to heal and develop your inner self.

You only have today! Discover how rich life can be right now, even amidst all your problems and difficulties. Find joy in whatever comes to hand. Prize each new insight you gain about life, especially those won through pain and suffering. Treasure times with dear ones and friends. Enjoy each act of kindness and love that you or others perform. Cherish each smile, each kind of word, each good thought, each work of prayer and outreach to G-d. It is by living life now that you will heal, because this is precisely what healing is all about: Living now!

“Think only about today. When a person wants to live a spiritual life, it may seem like too much of a burden. But if you remember that you have only today, it won’t be such a burden. Don’t push off your spiritual life from one day to the next. For all a person has is the present day and the present moment.”

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov