Healing from the inside out

This is the story of a beautiful young woman’s path to healing.

by Barb Melamed — 

This is the story of a beautiful young woman’s path to healing. About eight months ago, Ellie had surgery on her abdomen. All seemed to be healing well, until a few months later when a small area, approximately the size of a pea, began to open up on the incision. Another few weeks passed, and the hole seemed to be getting bigger. She went back to the surgeon who sent her to see a wound nurse.

Ellie began going regularly to the wound clinic and was tracked by the same nurse for months. The site was repeatedly cauterized to encourage healing, but it was stubborn. This once pea-size hole became more and more of a puzzle as it grew to the size of a half-dollar.

After about six months, Ellie went back to the surgeon who stitched the wound closed in the hope that this would do the trick. After two weeks, it was time to take the stitches out, but the doctor could see the wound was still not healed. He was frustrated but unsure what to do next.

Frustrated herself, Ellie decided to reach out to her life coach for help. She asked, “Why is this happening to me?” This led them to ask a series of questions: What was Ellie not getting, what was she missing and what did she need to learn? What was this “hole” trying to call attention to?

They talked about how in life there are things we can control and things we cannot. The coach asked her if she was taking control of those things that she could in her life. Was she giving her body the nutrients and the rest it needed to heal? Was she a player in the game of life or merely a spectator? It was proposed that, as she fell asleep at night, she ask her body what it needed to tell her — what specific needs were not getting met?

The very next day, she went back to the wound clinic. The nurse she had been seeing for almost six months had come up with an idea of something else to try on the wound — a material designed to promote healing. Within one week, the wound was healed.

Why did the nurse all of a sudden think of this solution? What made the difference? Could it be that the seemingly small shift in Ellie’s thinking somehow enabled the nurse to remember this material? Was it merely coincidence? Can it be that healing ourselves from the inside out, from thoughts to actions, has a greater impact than we realize?

The healing potential of the body, mind, spirit connection is a powerful one that is often overlooked. Sometimes looking at this connection can make all the difference in healing.

Barb Melamed has a master’s degree in Adlerian psychotherapy and counseling, and is a transformational life coach in Phoenix. She is the founder and president of nshama.com, a wellness practitioner network. 480-221-2670 or barb@nshama.com.

Reprinted from AzNetNews, Volume 29, Number 3, June/July 2010.