There is an innate healing power and wisdom within us all.
Dearest reader. This is a love letter to your spirit, the rose in your cheek, the twinkle in your eye and the spring in your step. It is a jubilant ode to the magical, timeless part within you that sparkles with life and hums in tune with all creation; lovingly woven from the same cloth as the earth, the sea and the sky, all creatures great and small.
We human beings contain all the energy, mystery and magic of the universe within us, imbuing us with infinite creativity, inspiration and vitality. We all too often simply forget that such beauty and wisdom dances effortlessly within us, glistening, wild and free. While we might look in many places for happiness, we already possess the magic we seek. It belongs to us as a luminous, ever-present sparkle: a precious kind of energy that we are invited to explore, nurture and nourish each day of our lives.
Life calls us to nourish our spirits with tenderness and delight each step of the way. Any small, tender act of self-care – a deep breath, an early night, a life-giving meal, or a slow potter in nature – can nourish, restore and reignite our inner glow. A faithful guiding light, our inner sparkle flickers when we need to rest and gives us encouraging little signs when we soothe and care for ourselves. It dims when we ignore the calls of our hearts, and glistens brightly when we craft courageous, intuitive lives from our truest values and dreams. Attuning to our inner sparkle awakens us to the deepest kind of wisdom, love and inspiration we could ever know.
Self-healing magic
Too often we give our power away. We expect other people or other things to heal us, complete us or fill us up. Yet when we see at last that we are home in our tremendous power, that we always have been and always will be, we can learn to trust in ourselves and the perfect order of nature.
We can touch a kind of inner power, peace and joy that we deserve to know yet are rarely, if ever, ‘taught’ to access. Indeed, we all have the capacity to soothe, comfort and inspire ourselves and, in doing so, experience truly sustainable, healing and fortifying energy as long as we live.
It is important to note that I refer here to more general and milder feelings of depression, anxiety and malaise. Those suffering more acutely may find that self-healing practices can work in wonderful harmony with the recommendations of their trusted health professionals.
Sharpening our mind-body intelligence and realising the immensity of our own healing power could have profound and life-changing consequences. If each one of us was to awaken to our own magical, self-healing potential and come to know simple, true comfort and happiness from within, we would be able to step aside from the constant seeking of bliss and into the lived experience of it. What if to regain our sparkle we were simply to heed the calls of our spirits, courageously taking small steps to begin to live more magical lives? What if we were to have faith in our own capacity to restore, soothe and balance ourselves? Would we still feel the need to consult others about what might be ‘wrong’ with us and seek to be fixed?
The truth is that we naturally possess healing wisdom and power within us – pure instinct, deep intuition. In the wise and poignant words of Alsatian theologian Albert Schweitzer, “The doctor of the future will be oneself… Every patient carries his or her own doctor inside.” If we quieten down and listen in, we always know the answers. In the instances in which external support or intervention are genuinely warranted, we will most certainly know to seek help.
Otherwise, it is the loving, tender and unconditionally respectful relationship we nurture with ourselves that heals and fortifies us for life, and which is free and available to us, moment to moment.
Inner apothecary
When we consider nurturing our tremendous self-healing and self-sustaining powers, it is helpful to see our inner sparkle as our life force.
When we are judgemental, hurried, fearful and worried we deplete our life force. When we eat mindlessly or dishonour our minds and bodies with carelessness and unkindness, our lights dwindle. In contrast, thoughts and acts born from love strengthen our life force, nourish our sparkle, and expand our energy. Rest, self-care and self-compassion grow our inner strength and self-worth, leading to positive thoughts and choices, and gentler and easier living. The more confident and peaceful we feel, the more we sparkle. Rumi suggested that if we want to feel more alive, love is our truest health.
You might like to visualise yourself as having an inner apothecary in which the right medicine for your mind, body and spirit is always at hand. This medicine might be rest. It might be laughter. It might be time out. It might be movement or connection with others. It might be helping somebody else on their path, having a quiet bath, or enjoying a nourishing meal, taking a walk in nature or savouring a moment of mindful presence. Allow yourself to gently explore healing possibilities and tend to yourself with love, kindness and care. The empowerment you will experience by allowing yourself to know your own answers is a gift. You will find yourself to be more self-sufficient, intuitive, robust and magical than you could have ever imagined.
