Family Healing
Today, after all the goodbyes and departures, my house feels silent and empty, but the healing power of family love lingers in all the rooms that were filled with voices just yesterday.
Whatever ails us physically, emotionally or spiritually, whether it’s a health challenge, a diagnosis, a divorce, or losing a loved one, I believe the best healing starts and ends in the family. And that’s the way it should be. Whether a doctor or a therapist is involved, families can weigh in to make a special difference in our wellbeing. Families are naturally the center of healing in any community, from birth unto death. And therefore families will play a crucial role in turning around family histories of chronic disease, from hypertension and diabetes to chronic depression and cancer.
Family kitchens are where food traditions are kept alive, where human hungers and longings are fed, where emotional nurturing takes place and information is exchanged. The kitchen is often the place where family members come to balance, or where somebody notices that a family member needs to come to balance, and might need help. Being with family for even a few days can bring tremendous growth and healing.
“Not my family,” you say?
If your family is divided, if there are tensions, old regrets, secrets, people who don’t speak to each other…well, that’s exactly why you want to dive in with the magic wand of healing that every family member possesses.
What’s the magic wand? Uh...okay, there's not a magic wand. But there is a somatic-emotional posture that heals, and it's almost as simple as a wand. Let me explain the bodymindset of healing so you can start practicing it.
Show up with a dose of humility, keep your heart open, be present, and sit in the seat of your observing Self. What you'll notice if you do these four things are all the striking and annoying similarities, all the family dynamics and intergenerational patterns that emerged somewhere in the past—maybe in hard times, crises and even wars—that once made sense, but don’t anymore. Notice all the things that people in the past did or didn’t do, said or didn’t say. Allow yourself to feel all of that, and then hold it in your arms close to your heart, and start loving your family history by healing what's broken! Start with empathetic listening to find a way to love your family. The benefits of giving healing love to family members can be astounding. Because if one person in a family heals…everybody in that family is affected.
Families are vibrationally and emotionally connected. If a wound is dressed that has been passed for generations, everybody benefits. There is probably some quantum physics explanation of this phenomenon, but basically, when all is said and done, it’s a family thing. Families that break bread together, journey together, detox together, and love together also heal together—and they usually stay together too.
By the way, initiating one of these family healing journeys (try taking my 10-day detox challenge with a family member) usually begins with somebody picking up the phone. Do it, and you'll inevitably find that someone on the other end of that lifeline has been waiting for your call.