BODY OF BELIEF
As a child I would join my friends and we’d run to the banks of the overflowing creeks just after the rain and catch crawdads with our bare hands. More than once those shifty little creatures with their disproportionately large claws would pinch my fingers, sending me running home to mama’s kiss to make all the scary feelings go away.
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Elmo and I became close friends this weekend. As close as a pinky finger.
This is what happens when a minor injury occurs in the presence of a grandchild who is passionate about boo-boos and making them disappear.
“I’ll kiss it all better.” Archie’s little brow folds into a frown as he inspects the damage then gently holds it to his tiny lips that contain more healing power than any band aid.
I imagine there are few of us who haven’t experienced the loving attempt of someone near to us kissing our hurts away. Such a sweet little gesture, we muse. Or is it something more?
We all know what’s going on underneath that seemingly insignificant sliver of adhesive. A miracle is unfolding just as it has ten thousand times before this—the body’s breathtaking ability to heal.
SCIENCE TELLS US THE CARE OF ANOTHER CONTAINS AS MUCH HEALING POWER AS THE REMEDIES WE REACH FOR OFF THE SHELF.
Archie’s unsolicited kiss. A spontaneous act of love. Perhaps learned. More likely innate. A part of me longs to keep Elmo forever. Not only because of what is transpiring just below his tiny blue face but because of the childlike belief he represents—
Band aid on I am bleeding. Band aid off I am cured.
Until my recent journey, one as startling as a crawdad latching on to my finger, I took the nature of healing for granted. And why wouldn’t I? The repetition of skin opened, then closing up, has jaded me…all of us… to the marvel of our own internal medicine. With hyper focus on modern remedies, have we forgotten that we were designed with an onboard restoration system intended precisely and intricately to work in tandem with creation itself?
IF YOU’VE FOLLOWED ME FOR ANY LENGTH OF TIME YOU WON’T BE SURPRISED WHEN I TELL YOU—ARCHIE’S LITTLE KISS IS JUST AS MUCH REMEDY AS WHAT’S TRANSPIRING WITHIN.
What we surround ourselves with is either medicine or poison. There is no neutral ground. In so many ways our beliefs about our bodies are formed from the traumas we experience as children and how those closest to us respond. Read that again.
I WONDER, DID THE ONES YOU LOOKED TO FOR COMFORT KISS…OR DISMISS…WHAT YOU FELT? I ASK BECAUSE WHAT YOU FEEL IN THE MOMENT OF INJURY HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH HOW YOUR BODY HEALS.
If what I’m asking brings up overwhelming feelings, then it’s time to take a closer look. before the dis-ease sets in. What we carry, those emotions in the moment, are stored inside our cells. And those cells will act out in surprising ways when they’ve had their fill.
Enter Stage IV cancer. Before we even discover our disease, it has likely been rooting itself in our bodies for nearly a decade. This isn’t only about my solo journey, but how it relates to yours.
I wouldn’t be who I am if I didn’t ask you, what have you been carrying all these years?
Most of us are not only bad about allowing others to nurture us but we are equally inept at genuinely caring for ourselves.
TODAY I LOOKED INTO THE MIRROR AND WONDERED…DID THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION OF ME EVER ONCE THINK ABOUT HOW TO LIVE ON THIS OLDER ME’S BEHALF?—
If you are paying any attention to the conversation, two words are being unexpectedly paired:
Science+Belief
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ABOUT YOURSELF?
There are universes of healing going on not only under Elmo’s little face wrapped around my finger, but inside every single cell, listening and then responding to the conversations I’m having with myself.
Will I say that I am weak and broken,
or will I join my body in its powerful healing work?
Kiss it and make it better.
It starts with this.
To believe as we did when we were children,
that healing is within our grasp.
NOTES:
I have shared with those closest to me who pray for total healing in my body that I struggle with believing that outcome for myself. But then I remember how that little kiss felt. It’s as if my body agreed with the notion that healing is not some mysterious, random occurrence but the embedded disposition of our physical beings fueled and magnified by our belief.
Before I was diagnosed with cancer I always said I would never do chemotherapy. And then cancer came. I didn't have the knowledge I do now about other options, and so I agreed...AGREED...to undergo chemotherapy but not without a powerful BODY OF BELIEF. I decided that chemo would be my medicine [not my toxin] and I believed it with all of my heart. The result? I was never sick. not one day. In fact, I was surprisingly strong.
This is not to say that if we believe, healing will absolutely happen. But I do believe, without the presence of belief in one form or another, it absolutely will not.
Throughout this 32-month cancer journey my belief has been strengthened by two very specific things:
1. The partnership of prayer—those who understand the power of, “let me kiss it and make it better,” and are bold about that work, coming into agreement with the Creator of all things that healing is not only possible but divine. There is no true healing apart from who He is, in your life and in mine.
2. The partnership between mind and body—there can be no healing without a belief that it is possible, and then a sold-out commitment to do the work.
What I have uncovered about how I got here, and how it is possible to “get out” cannot be ignored. For me to continue to live as I was, would be to disrespect, dismiss, and disregard everything I have learned about toxic thoughts, toxic foods, toxic people.
There can be no healing without transformation. It’s an all-in proposition of body, mind, spirit, environment.
To say that I have mastered the process would be counter to the very definition of living, that is, growing and discovering every minute of every day. But I can tell you that my labs are proof that profound healing is taking place.
If you ask me what changes you should make to live a healthier life, I believe with all my heart that you probably already know.