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The ABCs of Healing
Summer Renewal and
the ABCs of Spiritual Healing
the ABCs of Spiritual Healing
Spring has come, summer is hot on its heels and the earth is bursting with new greenery, bright flowers and baby animals. And with all the new life and sunshine outside, most of us long for similar renewal inside. Generally, we express that drive in external ways. We "spring clean" our homes with a frenzy. We plant our seeds and tend our gardens. We connect with friends and family through cookouts, pool parties and June weddings.
Susan Apollon, intuitive psychologist and author of Touched by the Extraordinary: An Intuitive Psychologist Shares Insights, Lessons and True Stories of Spirit and Love to Transform and Heal the Soul (Matters of the Soul, 2005), says our annual warm weather rituals are metaphors for what we need to be doing spiritually.
"Spring time, especially, but also on into the summer, is the perfect time for rebirth," Apollon says. "Most of us are in a mood to clean out clutter, to open up windows both literal and metaphorical and let the sunshine in, to celebrate life's riches. That's why this is a good time of year to renew your soul by replacing your old spiritual habits with new ones that lead to healing on every level."
But what, exactly, is spiritual healing? Apollon says it's about bringing into harmony and balance our thoughts, feelings, beliefs and actions. It's about becoming whole. Healing takes place when we reclaim our power, wisdom or spirit, which we often bury during the process of life, and when we reconnect with our soul or Higher Self, as well as with the Universe or God.
On a more practical level, it means learning to live in such a way that you don't spend all your time fretting about the future, worrying about your kids or obsessing over health issues. And it means coming to a place where you refuse to settle for a job, a relationship, a lifestyle – a life – that doesn't fulfill you.
