Hello friends! The birds of migration continue to trickle through even with the continuing drought. There are many new mudflats around the lake with the water dropping so low that I wonder if I will see shorebirds at all or only at a distance. Our first big cold front arrives this weekend so I have my fingers crossed that some of the migrants will stop in to say hello.
Healing has been on my mind as I’ve navigated a summer of physical challenges including 11 weeks of pain from sciatica. I finally seem to be getting substantially better and hope this time there are no more setbacks. I still long to curl up comfortably in a chair with a book or tie my shoes with ease, but I took great pleasure in putting lotion on my feet this morning for the first time in weeks. Healing, of course, is more than physical. I hope the connection I’ve been working on with my body will continue to deepen and grow as the pain recedes.
Today I heard a question on Alexa Bradley Hulsey’s podcast, “Notes from Your Acupuncturist” that has me thinking. I’m not sure now exactly how it was phrased or maybe it wasn’t a question at all but in my mind it sits now as, “What is Your Medicine?”
There are so many ways of healing in the world. My dad is an excellent hug healer. he has a way of hugging you, especially in that moment where you don’t know what else to do, that allows you to just sink into the hug and feel supported. He probably thinks I call him every day to check in on him, but the truth is on days when I need it I can feel that hug through the phone.
My neighbor, Diane, heals through listening. Every time I stop to talk to her I end up feeling rejuvenated and lighter. She provides loving support for so many by being there for them, including some work she does with neonatal hospice (women who are pregnant but whose babies are not expected to live long). I have no doubt they feel as held and uplifted by her presence as I do.
Friends heal us with their presence, a simple hello, acknowledgement or phone call. I am beyond grateful for my friends. My sanhga provides amazing medicine every week by showing up with big hearts and authentic intentions. We gather in meditation and then we wrestle with the challenges of life together. As soon as I see their faces I feel lighter.
Many offer their healing professionally. I have friends and trusted practitioners who are gifted healers in a variety of ways - herbalists, coaches, acupuncturists, shamanic practitioners, writers, therapists and so many more. I find healing in my inbox from some of these wonderful women.
I love that Janise Ray says on her website, “Stories are Medicine”. It has me thinking about what I offer here and everywhere I show up in the world. How can I use my camera and pen to heal? If I didn’t have a camera, how would I heal? If I didn’t have a story to share, how would I heal? How can I show up in the world and be more of a healing presence to myself and others? How can I show up with my camera and my pen in ways that increase that healing presence?
These are not questions I expect to answer. I find the best questions are often the ones that rattle around in my being for weeks - or years - allowing ever deepening understanding to unfold. “What is your Medicine” feels like one of those questions to me.
Take good care of your bodies and hearts friends. We all both need and provide medicine for others in this world.
I love this question- and, of course, the essence of what is medicine for us is both what we need to receive for healing and what we can offer that supports others. And, we can have more than one kind of medicine. Recently revisited Rilke's comment about solitude in relationship- "I hold this to be the highest task of a bond between two people: that each shall stand guard over the solitude of the other." Solitude is one of my medicines.
So glad you are finding relief from pain and a way to listen to your body. it can be so difficult to figure out not only what its saying but how to talk back. Pain is designed to be a reminder rather than a lifestyle! I am also grateful for the beautiful words from Notes from an acupuncturist and very happy that they have returned from their rest.
As a herbalist, what is your medicine is the first question we ask of the plants we use and sit with. and they tell us in so many ways. It is a practice that i love and one that gives me so much, sitting in this question especially with beings and situations where the answer is in more than words, where i have to use all my senses to listen, where i have to trust my feelings if i want to understand.
Keep asking the birds, they are telling you all the time ;)