Give Your Healing Somewhere to Go

In 1628, a physician named William Harvey published what he found after asking a simple question about the tiny one-way valves in our veins: what are they for? The answer showed the world that blood circulates.

That question still opens doors. We can't say whether anything is working until we know what it's for. A lamp that gives no light is broken. A lamp that won't keep you warm is fine. The same is true of our bodies. Until we know what our body is for, "healthy" shrinks down to "no symptoms," and healing has nowhere to go.

I believe your body was made on purpose. It isn't a shell you carry around or a problem to manage. It's how you live your life in this world: how you work, love, hold, build, serve and pray. Here's how to start reconnecting your body with what it's for.

Step 1: Name what you want your body to be able to do

Forget the symptom list for a moment. Write down what you want this body to be able to do in the life you're living. Be specific and personal. For example:

- Pick up my grandchildren and get down on the floor to play.

- Work a full shift without needing two days to recover.

- Kneel in my garden every spring.

- Sit with a grieving friend and stay present.

- Hike the trail I used to love.

- Have the energy to build the business I keep dreaming about.

Write as many as come to you. Notice which ones stir something in you. Those matter most.

Step 2: Turn complaints into "able to" goals

Most of us describe our health by what's wrong: "my back hurts," "I'm always tired," "my stomach is a mess." Those words tell us what we want to get rid of. They don't tell us where we're going.

Take your biggest health complaint and rewrite it as something you want to be able to do.

- "My back hurts" becomes "I want to carry groceries and lift my toddler without fear."

- "I'm always tired" becomes "I want to have energy left for my family at the end of the day."

- "I can't sleep" becomes "I want to wake up rested enough to think clearly at work."

The problem is the same. But now healing has a direction.

Step 3: Find the why under the why

Look at your "able to" goal and ask: what is that for?

You want to carry your toddler. What is that for? To be the parent you want to be. You want energy at the end of the day. What is that for? To be present with the people you love, or to finish the work you were made to do.

Keep asking until you reach something that feels true and deep. That's the reason worth getting well for. On hard days, it will carry you further than a lab number ever could.

Step 4: Choose where your attention goes

Healing doesn't always move as fast as we'd like. Some days the pain is louder than the purpose. Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist who survived the Nazi concentration camps, wrote that "the last of the human freedoms" is "to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances."

That freedom is yours too. When you feel powerless, you can still choose where to put your attention. Let your why be one of the places you return to.

Step 5: Bring your "for" into your care

Tell your practitioner what you want your body to be able to do, not just what hurts. In my treatment room, that's one of the most useful things a person can share. It tells us both where we're headed, and it helps us see progress that a symptom list would miss.

A practice for today

Write one sentence that begins, "I want my body to be able to..." Then, under it, write what that is for. Read both lines aloud each morning this week. Notice what changes in how you move, eat, rest and care for yourself when you remember what your body is for.

Words to Carry

- My body was made on purpose.

- My body is how I live my life in this world.

- I'm healing toward something, not just away from something.

- I can choose where my attention goes.

- My purpose is worth getting well for.

Tomorrow, we keep exploring what we were made for.

With you every step of the way,

Dr. Jocelyn

References

Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's search for meaning. Beacon Press. (Original work published 1946)

Harvey, W. (1847). On the motion of the heart and blood in animals (R. Willis, Trans.). (Original work published 1628)