Can you share your story of healing with us?
For decades I’ve been on a pretty challenging healing journey: In my early twenties, when I began facing some serious spinal problems, orthopedic doctors told me that by my mid-thirties, I would probably be in a wheelchair. I had the spine of an 80-year-old!
I was dealing with several debilitating hereditary and early-onset spinal diseases, as well as chronic autoimmune diseases, asthma and other respiratory issues, and several sports and dance injuries. I had a lot going on.
Eventually, I was able to reverse the progression of autoimmune diseases and asthma with complementary medicine. I was managing it all okay, and I was living a very active life: working with nonprofit organizations that make the world a better place, hiking, swimming, biking, performing classical flutes on weekends, and exhibiting my fine art photography in galleries and museums. Plus traveling around the world and spending time with my husband, family, and friends. You know, just a really full life. It was living the life of my dreams.
But it all came to a crashing halt in December 2016 when a spinal disc ruptured very badly. It was the 4th inoperable disc rupture, and it left me completely flat on my back, in debilitating pain, and bedridden for over five years. It was seriously horrible. I was unable to even walk to the bedroom door for many months.
My life became severely limited. At first, I was miserable not only physically but I was suffering mentally and emotionally as well. Then I began to realize that unnecessary suffering is a choice. Being seriously ill, injured, or in pain does not mean we have to suffer in our minds unnecessarily. In other words, I could choose to complain, be angry, or be bitter—for a single moment or for my entire life. I recognized that in every moment, I had a choice. And that’s when my healing journey really began.
The story about your life, your trauma, your illness, and your relationships, whatever… can create unnecessary suffering. But that kind of unnecessary suffering is a choice. Similarly, thriving and creating a thriving mindset is also a choice. Every moment in life offers us that choice – we need to remember to choose to thrive.
I worked hard to find tools to help me cope with the pain and the emotional challenges associated with pain, loss, and disability. Over months (and years), I gained a new perspective. I amassed practical tools for not only managing the extraordinary pain but for getting to know myself better to find strength, patience, resilience, acceptance, and purpose.
So, flat on my back, I took a deep dive into mind-body medicine and complementary medicine – and began to have insights about the healing journey and how to thrive. And that’s what my book is about, “Suffering to Thriving: Your Toolkit for Navigating Your Healing Journey.” Frankly, it’s the toolkit I wish I had decades ago, and it’s part of my life’s purpose now to share it with the world.
Please explain the concept of the mind-world connection and its significance in the context of healing.
The simple way to think of this concept is, Your mind is your medicine. By this, I mean your mind is not only the “medicine” to help you attain better health but to create the thriving, fantastic life of your dreams.
This concept is summed up by Nikola Tesla, who I quote in my book: “If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” Energy follows thought – it’s what powers the manifestation of our dreams. Our words – whether they’re spoken, written, or thought – have an energetic charge and the power to create our dreams or tear them down… empower or hurt others… help us heal, or keep us suffering.
The magic lies in choosing our words very intentionally to create our health and the world we wish to live and thrive in.
How do our thoughts and emotions directly influence our physical well-being and overall health?
Everything in the universe is energy — atoms vibrating at a frequency ranging from low to high: trees, rocks, food, music, our planet, and ourselves. Nothing in the universe is not vibrating. Vibrational energy is invisible, but we can see evidence of it at work. To demonstrate this, teachers have brought two living plants to their classrooms and labeled them “love” and “hate.” Students are instructed to speak to one plant kindly with high-vibration words of love and admiration every day; to the other plant, they speak low-vibration, mean, hateful words. You can guess the outcome — the plant spoken to consistently with loving messages thrives while the other withers.
Similarly, Masaru Emoto, an internationally renowned scientist, demonstrated how our thoughts, words, and feelings — loving or hateful — affect water molecules and snowflakes.
Humans are energy beings. You — your thoughts, moods, actions, words, attitude — have a vibrational frequency. Research shows vibrational energy indeed affects our bodies and thoughts — which, according to physics, are mostly responsible for the reality we experience. In other words, vibrating at a low (negative) frequency attracts more of it to your life. Positive energy—high vibrations cleanse negativity, invigorate life, and promote healing.
Here’s why. Your body is composed of vibrating atoms of stardust and water — up to 60% of the adult body is water, and the brain and heart are 73% water.
When we begin to work intentionally with positive energy, dramatic healing can occur.
What practical examples or insights can you provide on manifesting better health outcomes through positive thinking?
Focus on ability, not inability. Yes, obstacles happen (health challenges or otherwise), and they rattle our confidence, don’t they? But look at a tree growing through the sidewalk and encountering an obstacle, like a building. The tree doesn’t question whether it’s up to the challenge or not. It simply stands there in its power and keeps on growing. It might grow around a wall or grow toward a little ray of light. It surrenders, and it grows. We can learn from this. So stand in your power, and focus on your ability (not inability or disability). You are stronger than you realize. What can you do? How can you use workarounds to do activities without pain or to transcend other obstacles? Focus on ability.
Ask the right questions. When things go wrong in our lives, or we hit an obstacle or overwhelming challenge, we tend to see it as an unfortunate event and ask, “Why me?”, right? You’ve probably experienced the mind chatter I call the “what-ifs.” What if this happens to me? What if it’s terrible? What will become of me? It’s easy to fall into that downward spiral.
It boils down to asking the right questions. Not, Why me?, but instead, from a place of infinite possibilities, ask the question, What if? What if I can let go of what no longer serves me and live a healthier, more joyful life? What if something better is in store for me? What if I can explore something new or something that has always inspired me? What if I intentionally replace my negative thoughts with more positive, healing ones?
So, we need to ask the right questions, like:
What if this is an opportunity to reinvent myself?
What if I’m on the cusp of something better? something great?
What if something wonderful is about to happen?
What if I decide, right now, at this moment, to fall in love with my future?
What step forward can I take today that my future self will be grateful for?
I love this quote by Wayne Dyer, “When you change the way you see things, the things you see will change.” He’s one of the many people I quote in my book. Asking the right questions enables us to see our challenges as gifts.
5. How can individuals shift their mindset from a focus on suffering to embracing a thriving mentality?
A good starting place would be these six simple (but not necessarily easy) things:
Acceptance of “what is”— which doesn’t mean you surrender to being ill forever but being at peace with where you are right now.
Letting go of what no longer serves us makes room for a new life to emerge.
Deep listening to intuition – not only for healing but for following your bliss.
Living from a place of deeply heartfelt gratitude – including gratitude for the health challenges.
Practicing robust self-compassion & self-care.
Make your mind, your medicine, and always remember that in every moment, we have a choice: that unnecessary suffering is a choice. Thriving is a choice.
My book, “Suffering to Thriving: Your Toolkit for Navigating Your Healing Journey” presents a whole toolkit of numerous additional practical, actionable ways.
What actionable steps or strategies can individuals take to transition from negative thinking and suffering to embracing possibilities and creating the health and life they aspire to?
As Alain de Botton wisely said, “We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them.”
Remember to ask the right questions, as I mentioned earlier: What if these difficulties I face are an opportunity to reinvent myself? What if I’m on the cusp of something fantastic? Slow down, get quiet, and listen deeply. Ask yourself: What can I do today that my future self will be grateful for? Then take one step in that direction today.
Everyone – if we’re lucky to live long enough – will face a health crisis at one point or another. Illness, injury, and loss are part of life.
Your healing crisis – or any crisis, pain, loss, or grief – has a bigger reason… It could be a blessing in disguise or a portal to a new life — new knowledge, skills, and inspiration —an initiation or catalyst for finding meaning and purpose in life… depending upon how you look at it.
Instead of only experiencing it as an event that happened to you, try to see the whole picture and learn why the health issues are happening for your life’s journey.
Beloved author C.S. Lewis said, “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
You see, you’re on a healing journey that is embedded in your life’s journey, which is embedded in your soul’s journey — that’s your mission and purpose in life. When we look at our injured or ill selves with great compassion and self-love, we can learn that health setbacks are quite possibly a gift for which we could one day be grateful. Not necessarily the kind of gift we’d put on our wish list, but a gift, nonetheless, a blessing in disguise, I’d say.
Your healing journey could give you an opportunity to get clear on your life purpose or mission.
So listen to your heart’s inspiration and follow your bliss — as I like to say: at the intersection of your innate skills and talents. And Dream Big! You know, Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is everything. It is the preview to life’s coming attractions.”
There’s only one you in the entire universe – no one has your unique talents. I believe each of us is here for a reason at this particularly challenging time on Earth. Remember who you are and awaken to your purpose. Our world needs the unique gifts you were born to share — your unique superpower. Own it. Adopt a pioneering sense of adventure to this journey called life. Sometimes, the key to finding our mission in life lies within the healing crisis we face.
Discovering the Power of Tarot and Healing with Tinsley Hammond(Opens in a new browser tab)
Kathy Harmon-Luber is a certified Sound Therapy & Sound Healing practitioner, Reiki Master, classically trained flutist, and award-winning fine art photographer. She is an inspiring author and wellness guide whose passion is helping people navigate the challenging terrain of the healing journey. Last year Kathy launched a best-selling book, “Suffering to Thriving: Your Toolkit for Navigating Your Healing Journey ~ How to Live a More Healthy, Peaceful, Joyful Life,” which is full of wisdom gleaned from decades of healing from her own debilitating health crises. Kathy helps others find their compass and chart a course for navigating illness, injury, and loss – learning how to not only cope but to become more resilient, joyful, and thriving. She has appeared in Authority Magazine, MindBodyGreen.com, Woman’s World Magazine, Yoga Magazine, and numerous podcasts and radio shows. Connect with her at www.SufferingToTHRIVING.com, where you can download her free “Infinite Possibilities” visualization.
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