As I have walked the journey of chronic illness, I have learned many lessons.  Some of them I learned the hard way, beating myself against them time and time again until I finally accepted what I needed to know.  Humans can be stubborn in that way.

One of the more important things that I have come to learn and which I still frequently have to remind myself of is that I should take what works for me and leave the rest. Right now, this shows up for me frequently in my spiritual development.  As I explore new realms of spirituality, I choose what works for me and disregard the rest.  I label myself as a spiritual mutt because no one religion or system completely encompasses my beliefs.  None even come close.  I believe that many major world religions offer bits of insight that can be applied even to non-theisitic living.  Helping others is a principle that most religions and spiritualities embrace, but one doesn’t need to believe in a god to practice acts of compassion.

I also especially find this mantra to be true as I read works of self-help non-fiction.  Some authors have one or two nuggets in their works that help me out but the rest of the book is not much use.  Other books speak to me almost in their entirety.  Either situation is ok.  I remind myself to take what works for me and leave the rest behind.

This tidbit can be applied to any learning situation aside from the ones in which there is a scored test for a class in school.  It also will end up applying to my blog because of the wide variety of topics I will be posting on.  Many of you will not have experienced the loss of a child, thank heavens, and so those posts may not offer much for you.  Some of you will be following this blog for its posts on green living but won’t have much interest in my posts on spiritual issues.  That is fine.  I know my clients have a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences.  As I share my beliefs and experiences, I don’t expect everything I write to help everyone who reads.  Be grateful for whatever you learn that is of use to you, and leave behind all that doesn’t assist your growth.

© 2013 Green Heart Guidance

Throughout my 39 years of this life, I have seen many health practitioners, both Western and complementary.  Many have helped me, and others have not.  However, one of the most important things that I have learned during the past ten years of chronic illness is the power of practitioners actually listening to and believing their patients and clients. To me, this is one of the signs of a great practitioner.

Over four years ago, I began working with a group of chiropractors in Austin who changed my life through the unique chiropractic work they do which encompasses the mind-body-spirit connection.  The group also embraces the belief that patients often know better than practitioners what is going on in their own bodies, a far-fetched idea in mainstream healing.

One day early in my time with this group, I went in to my primary chiropractor suffering from ear pain.  My chiropractor looked in my ear, but everything looked fine.  Nothing around my ear needed to be adjusted.  Nothing else showed up during the adjustment to indicate any kind of issue with my ear.  He was out of ideas about what was causing the pain.  As I left, he very sincerely apologized to me, saying that he was sorry he couldn’t find the source of my pain and that he hoped it let up soon.  I thought to myself, “This guy is nuts.”  After countless years of practitioners who either didn’t believe me when I presented with pain they couldn’t identify or who blamed me for their diagnostic inadequacies, I was unable to understand the concept of a practitioner apologizing to me when s/he could not find the source of my pain.

On the way home, it dawned on me:  What if this guy wasn’t crazy?  What if he was doing it right and all the other practitioners I had seen were doing it wrong?  What if the better way to treat a patient was with respect and compassion no matter what they told you?  Suddenly, all sorts of lights went off in my head.  I realized how often doctors had put the blame on me when they were confused and uncertain.  I realized how much I had absorbed that blame and integrated it into my system.  I had learned through those other practitioners that if I presented with pain that they could not locate, it was my fault and I was the one who was inherently wrong.  Now I had a new way of viewing the situation.  I wasn’t wrong.  The practitioners just didn’t know how to handle situations when they didn’t have answers or explanations.

From then on, I have been blessed to mostly work with practitioners who do believe me when I describe pains they can’t see or locate.  One of the burdens of late disseminated Lyme Disease is that it causes transient pain.  The pain isn’t measurable by any objective means, but it is very real to me.  It lasts for days or months, and then it goes away.  I have yet to find anything to change this pain, though I believe it is partially related to my body kicking out the Lyme.  Sometimes healing is painful.  This was likely the cause of the ear pain which only lasted a few days and then disappeared.

Just as my chiropractor believed me on that day several years ago, one of my primary intentions with my Green Heart Guidance is to provide my clients with a compassionate practitioner who believes in their suffering.  I am here to validate their pain and to help them find the reasons for pain in their body when all others are stumped.  Working as an adjunct to their doctors, chiropractors, therapists, and other health practitioners, I assist clients in discovering the mind-body-spirit connection to their health problems.  Through my own experiences with suffering, I am able to help clients from a unique and compassionate perspective that is unfortunately so often missing in our healthcare system.

© 2013 Green Heart Guidance