The Balance of Empowerment and Humility in Healing

We’ve all had times in our lives when we felt the desire to change. To move into physical wellness, to change our thought patterns, to grow and evolve as spiritual beings. We’ve all had these times. We’re having them now on a global level. And we all manage them in our own way. There is no one way or right way to change. We each walk our own path, follow our own process and thrive with different stimuli.

However, perhaps there is the possibility of finding balance in our journey. Perhaps we can claim our power while still being supported by others. And perhaps this sense of balance promotes permanence in the impermanence of change. For if we strive to be either all or nothing within the process of our change, we will surely find ourselves circling back to the original issue… the extreme process finds us hitting our heads against a brick wall.

Having lived much of my life as the client or patient, I have experienced reliance on others for help. When we find someone that we feel truly supports us and helps to change or grow, it becomes so easy to rely on them. To go to the safe place of support, comfort, understanding and compassion from another. And while this may feel nice and we may feel that change is occurring; it actually isn’t. Not when we acquiesce our own part in the process of change. True change occurs on a deep, internal level. It cannot be carried out by someone else. Supported? Yes. Intrinsically affected? No.

True change… long lasting change... occurs when we are empowered to create change ourselves. For many clients, having regular effective sessions with holistic practitioners, the real work is done between the sessions. It includes changing habits, releasing thought patterns, processing new information and putting self-care prescriptions into action.

Self-care, in fact, is true healthcare. When we are empowered and able to look after our own health and wellbeing, we are embodying the process of change as the ever-evolving process that it is. And we are claiming our right to spiral into wellness. A practitioner who really is working for your greatest good will support the process and implementation of self-care. They will not want you to book 100 sessions. The will support your empowerment.

Very often I see practitioners telling clients that they will need ongoing care. This may be the case. But it may not. As practitioners, why not aspire to give clients the tools to change themselves? As clients, why not ask for them?

This is empowerment. This is changework. This is healing.

On the flip-side, while it is wonderful to be empowered to self-care, it is just as important to find humility and accept support.  We can all benefit from support. And during our journey, the support we require will change. Why should we go through difficult periods alone when we can have someone help us, point out the way, ease the burden, the pain or drama? Why? There is no reason other than our own imposed pride and ego.

I have certainly been guilty of wanting to ‘fix’ myself, be in charge of my own healing, be independent. And I often see others who refuse to seek support for themselves. This is often a course that practitioners take. While they advocate for others to be in care, they themselves fail to nurture their need for support. 

Humility in healing is a beautiful concept. This comprises first of admitting that someone else can support us… that we need not walk alone. Secondly it requires vulnerability; trust in another. And this can sometimes feel hard for people who have a strong sense of impedance. In reality, sometimes the support of another can be the greatest catalyst for personal change. Releasing our own force and accepting another’s nurture, may be the greatest act of power and self-love there is.

Empowerment and Humility.

How do we find the balance of self-care and support? This taps into the idea of change within change. As we are ever-changing, so will our ability to self-care and our need for support. And the best way to gauge what is right for us, right now, is to find stillness, tap into our own innate instincts and follow the impulse to go within or reach without.