We’ve all heard the expression, “Practitioner Heal Thyself”. Have you ever had the experience of being on the receiving end of advice by someone that doesn’t practice what they preach? One funny example comes from the movie, “All That Jazz”, with Roy Scheider playing the character of Bob Fosse, who was in real life a heavy smoker, drug and alcohol user. When Roy Scheider sees his doctor for chest pain, the doctor who examines him is actually smoking and coughing while listening to his chest and gives him a clean bill of health.
I’m not saying that as practitioners or advice givers that we have to be issue free as almost everyone has experienced challenges in their life and truly, we are all works in progress. What I’m suggesting is that those that give advice (whether as friends, family members, or practitioners in the healing arts) all really benefit from clearing our own issues to be clearer channels of energy for others.
A funny example from my own life involved a time when I entered into psychological counseling for help after a divorce. I spent several months with the Psychologist, followed her advice, and was feeling great. I told her it would be my last session unless I needed a tune up. She looked at me and said, “You can’t leave. You’re one of my only patients that actually listens and acts on my advice.” Is anyone getting as uncomfortable as I was hearing that statement? Clearly, she was looking to me to fill her self-esteem cup. Many times, we look to others to validate us (something I have been guilty of many times) and if you are a healing practitioner, you can look at your client’s progress (or lack of progress) as your success or failure when really it has nothing to do with you. As long as you are prepared and the best practitioner you can be, the rest is truly up to the client. To this day, I have to remind myself that looking for validation outside myself instead of inside for my own personal connection with my belief systems always sends me off track.
When you really look at it, there is nothing more powerful than someone who has experienced difficulties and traumas but has worked through their issues, released their victimhood, and has used their experience to help others. I’ll never forget a client that came to me for prenatal care years ago. She was 40 years old and had been a serious drug addict in the past. She wanted this child and was in the process of getting her other children back after being sober for 5 years. She was such a great teacher as she taught me how to spot when clients were using drugs to help me guide them in a different direction. I encouraged her to talk to drug addicted pregnant women, as hearing things from her would be much more powerful than hearing them from me. She actually decided to be a counselor, and I’m sure she has helped many thousands of women to date.
Always remember that above all do no harm when you try to guide people through their healing journey.
Heather was honored to be a part of the Holistic Speaker’s Guild as a member and staff writer.
Tags: Uncategorized
July 31, 2017 7:18 pm
