'Friends' by Russian photographer Elena Shumilova
You can see her wonderful images at https://elenashumilova.smugmug.com
True healing takes place in the mind. If the mind isn’t healed, all the therapies in the world can only achieve partial healing of the body.
Healing our mind means letting go of fear, negativity, and anger and opening up to gratitude and joy. Medical records are full of instances of spontaneous healing of seemingly hopeless conditions when the person healed their mind by putting aside fear, anger and negative thinking. When I intentionally turn my thoughts towards joy and appreciation, I feel instantly better, vitalized.
Just deciding to let go of negativity doesn’t work, because it leaves the mind with nothing to turn to. When we choose to appreciate, however, we give our mind a new, deeper anchor. We quickly feel the benefits: we feel happier and calmer, more peaceful. It is impossible to be negative when we are feeling gratitude and joy, so why would we want to go back to a cynical, fearful or self-pitying way of thinking?
Though I knew that gratitude is good, I only came to understand its deeply transformative healing power after a spontaneous out-of-body experience one day in the park. In that state of greater consciousness, beyond the narrow world of ego, I understood at last that gratitude is absolutely necessary to our healing - individual, social and global; that only through gratitude can we begin to connect with our subtler senses and inner wisdom.
Now I see an attitude of gratitude as a kind of activism, a way of counteracting the intense negativity that seems to blank the planet. With the power of gratitude, we can - we will - create a more patient, peaceful, loving world.
Grow gratitude as you would a garden, and reap its fruits. Practice it as though it can save the world, for it can.
Sit every day quietly for some time and think of what you appreciate: your hands that allow you to do so many things; your feet that bear your weight every day and carry you where you want to go; the companionship of a pet; a friend; small acts of kindness; a gift of soup; the beauty of nature. And as you bring each thing to mind, say to yourself - with feeling, ‘I am grateful for..’, I appreciate…, Thank you.’