Healing is a journey of the heart. This quote came in an email from a friend, "Nothing in life is worth closing the heart. Request that the heart stay open and trusting in these instances, knowing you'll know all you need in each situation."
When I close my heart I interrupt my ability to heal; when my heart is open all possibilities are available to me. In western medicine there is the science of medicine, but there is also the art. The science is the cognitive part, the art comes from the heart/the intuition. When science is blended with art an intuitive healer is created. The science without the art can make a cure, but the art creates an environment for healing to take place.
Healing happens at all levels; emotional, cognitive, physical, and spiritual. Treating a problem at only one or two of these levels can cure but will not heal. Healing is the heart of the art of western medicine. Healing comes when my heart is open and I chose the path my healing will follow.
Western doctors often pursue a path toward curing, and many disregard the healing journey. In the healing journey both practitioner and patient engage in the decisions along the way. On my journey through my stroke I have encountered both kinds of medical practitioners; those who can only cure, and those who facilitate healing.
My post stroke journey brought me to a healer; a rehab doctor who practices with both her head and heart engaged. She has the cognitive knowledge of her specialty, but her knowledge is enhanced by the wisdom of her heart/her intuition. As I sat in her office one afternoon a few months ago a medical student was there as an intern. I was chatting with the intern and made the comment that medicine was part science part art. The intern did not understand my statement.
A few moments later she ask the doctor why she, the doctor, was giving me an injection in a certain muscle; the doctor gave her the scientific explanation and then said that she knew me, knew how my body responded to the injection, and what she looked for as she worked with my muscles. I interjected that she was practicing both the science and the art of medicine. I said that without the art the science is often not effective.
This doctor was someone I met during my stay on the rehab unit at the hospital. She was not my doctor at that time, she treated my roommate, and I realized that she brought her heart to her practice of medicine. Her offices were located in the building where my outpatient rehab was located. When I needed a rehab doctor to supervise part of my treatment I ask for her to be my rehab physician. My heart was open and I trusted that my heart would bring me what I needed. It did.
My journey into and through my stroke, the hospital, and afterwards has allowed me to remember the importance of keeping my heart open. The medical profession often suggests treatment plans that I realize are not in my best interest. They so often have to dot their I's and cross their T's that they seem to forget the humanity of the patients they serve.
This profession seems to find that approaching a patient as a whole person is alien to what they do. My stroke is dealt with by neurologists, my rehab by a rehab doctor, and my general health by an internist. An illness becomes a full time occupation for patients and doctors; if I would allow it to be. I chose not to do this.
I have discussions with each doctor who treats a part of me and remind them that I am whole; not a sum of my different parts, but a whole living, breathing, functioning person. They each have their specialties, which I respect, but each specialty is a part of the whole of me, and how one part is treated effects the other parts. I ask them to keep this in mind as we discuss treatment plans.
I want to hear their suggestions and I ask that they be open to my questions. My heart is open to hearing what they say and I ask that they remain open to my concerns. In this way I attempt to have an interactive dialogue between the medical personal and me. I am my own advocate for me, and I accomplish this by always leading with an open heart.
As the quote in my first paragraph points out there is nothing in life worth closing my heart. My health, health care, and medical treatment needs my heart to be open as I navigate the labyrinth of those who populate this system. I believe that to promote open dialogues with others I must have an open heart to hear and understand what they say.
I certainly meet those who appear to not have an open heart, but I chose to not allow them to dictate how I will respond. It is through the intuition of my heart that leads me to life affirming decisions in all areas of life. The art of my healing lies at the very center of my heart, and it quietly asks that I listen to the wisdom that knows what I need in each moment.
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