- We’re stilling learning something from the illness/symptom. Perhaps it’s meeting a need we haven’t found another way to fulfill: for caring attention, time for ourselves, protection from risk-taking, etc.
- Healing it too quickly would shake our sense of reality in a way that would be more uncomfortable than the illness. This level of discomfort may be unconscious until we’re faced with it. A healer I know who had successfully healed himself of a terminal heart condition, diabetes and more, decided to grow a missing tooth back after seeing this happen in his work with the dental healer, Dr. Willard Fuller. He set about it in the way he had healed so many other conditions and there was a point in the process where he actually felt a cracking sensation in his jaw, right where the missing tooth had been. Instead of embracing the sign of healing, his first impulse was a big inner, “NO!” He was very surprised at his own response and understood it to be a manifestation of his limiting beliefs: even though he had healed himself in so many other ways, this one seemed “too big!” Fortunately, the more we’re aware of these hidden agendas, the more power we have to choose and the less they control us.
- We’re focused more on battling something painful than on pursuing something joyful. What we give attention to we magnify. If we’re giving a large amount of attention to our distress over the problem, we hold it in place. When we stop battling an illness we free up a tremendous amount of energy that can then move in the direction of healing.
- The pain we know may feel safer than the potential risks of the unknown. If there’s a symptom or problem we’ve been living with for a long time, one that’s gotten a lot of our energy and attention, its sudden absence would undoubtedly leave a big empty place in our lives. While on the surface this might seem all good, this change could create significant stress and anxiety if we don’t know how to fill the space. A Pandora’s Box full of issues, from intimacy to life purpose, may be next in line to be addressed once the familiar struggle is no longer there.