Framing the Healing Journey

“It is no measure of good health to be well-adjusted to be a profoundly sick society.”

• Jiddu Krishnamurti

This might be a shift in cognitive framing for some of you, but your dis-ease with the world and its current state is actually a sign of health and vitality.

I always try to express this reality to my patients. Read on.

Your anxiety and depression, your hopelessness and your anger, are not inappropriate responses to the world we're living in or to the particular situations you may find yourself dealing with.

Think of your symptoms (which can in time become physical and physiological, too) as an adaptation to a really messed up situation, and your adaptive way of coping.

Mass murders, immoral wars, social oppression, widespread sin, workplace injustices, toxic family set-ups: these are not healthy and normal things! We are not meant to be okay with these things existing around us.

So we respond, our Fitra responds, and we all respond in different ways to help us cope with the pain and grief of these occurrences. But that response is, ultimately, a good thing. You know why?

Because it shows that your Heart is fighting. It shows that you are not accepting ugliness and immorality into your internal world. It shows that you're investing in trying to bring balance to a imbalanced situation by not numbing yourself from it. It shows that you're alive and responding; and even though it may not be the most efficient response, that adaptation is a sign of your Spirit jostling for equilibrium.

And that is a beautiful thing. And in that is our hope that one day we may find helpers and healers, lovers and teachers, to be there for us, encouraging us towards our deepest longing for wholesomeness, connection, and Balance.

This understanding is a part of what makes Hikma medicine Hikma Medicine. This is a part of our own Wisdom tradition.  And a reflection of how medicine and spirituality intersect at a very deep yet practical level.

{And perhaps you despise a thing and it is better (and more beautiful for you), and perhaps you love something and it is bad for you (and destroys you); God knows, while you do not know}

———

Mazen Atassi, ND

Dr. Mazen is a naturopathic doctor, classic homeopath, and Hikma therapist. To learn more about him and his services visit: www.forwardtohealth.com/dr-mazen