November 22, 2019 by Dr. C.
The healing relationship holds a sacred place for people as they search for a path to well-being moments. This relationship offers every possibility for allowing those moments to occur. It is a safe place and a sanctuary that aims to facilitate and bear witness to the experience of well-being.
The healing relationship starts with an agreement to enter the compassion space for the purpose of exploring well-being. Some people enter the compassion space almost effortlessly and without a great deal of resistance. Some move to experience well-being in the compassion space quickly, while others take longer. Understanding how to sit with resistance and eventually let go is part of the relationship as sanctuary.
Resistance can be more intense with relationship sanctuary than with sanctuary formed in connection to a place. So many deep emotions — good and bad — are tied to the memories of our relationships. We enter the healing relationship with a “relationship stance” built upon our history. Within that stance is resistance to sanctuary.
Working with a healer or a guide as a form of relationship sanctuary can be helpful. An experienced guide can show you your resistance obstacles, teach you to move around them, and help you to experience a well-being moment.
Finding healing relationships while battling a chronic illness is tough, but necessary. We are by nature social creatures and our health benefits from nurturing relationships. I long for conversations that explore the sacredness of life rather than the sickness of strife. Chronic illness consumes much of my time, but it does not define me. I’ll always have time for stimulating discourse.
Everything seems so rushed these days. Henry David Thoreau said there was no need for people to travel so fast on those locomotives going 25 mph. I giggled, and then thought that we are still going fast. Relationships are affected by a technological train that steamrolls into our lives without conscious consent. Texts, tweets, and obligatory holiday visits give us brief glimpses of those we love as they go dashing about their lives.
I don’t dash any more. Well, maybe to that emergency bathroom call, but not much else. I remember when I used to dash, both mentally and physically. I can’t push hard like that anymore. Stress hit me hard with the progression I experienced following the ruin of stagnation.
My disease took a turn for the worse this summer. It wasn’t a big crash into a tree, but a noticeable bump in the road. The ruin of stagnation was part of the progression. Everything is more difficult than it was three months ago. It’s hard to share all of this in a way that doesn’t come across as a pity party.
The relationship as sanctuary is a compassion space for me to be heard, understood, welcomed, and embraced. My partner does this day in and day out without complaint. I get tired of being with myself more often than that.
Relationship as sanctuary has been my life’s work. I find that the more I learn, the less I seem to know. It’s an old saying, but it is deeply poignant when applied to the sacred quality within the healing relationship. It is the best thing that I do as a human being in my service to humanity.
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https://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2019/11/22/relationship-sanctuary-healing/
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