I wonder how many practicing healers are making a substantial income and, of those that are, I wonder how many can honestly say they are staying true to their original goal.
There is an energy attached to the healing profession that is interesting to me. It is something of a touchy subject.
Example: Not so long ago I re-established contact with an old friend of mine I hadn’t seen for many years. In the process of catching up and filling in the blanks, my healing practice came up and she was somewhat shocked that I would accept money from people for healings because, in her mind, healing is a gift and should be given freely.
Why is it that a spiritual calling should hold any less monetary value than any other calling for instance to be a professor, doctor, attorney, etc?
Possibly because spirituality is not quantifiable as are other more tangible services or professions.
There is a basic human need to be able to see, touch, feel and prove that something works, has value and can be trusted. Doctors, professors, attorneys, teachers and priests study for years and obtain multiple degrees and certifications in order to be considered trustworthy.
I have watched healers become caught in the same web of having to prove their worth and, in the process, lose some of their integrity in order to remain viable.
Many years ago, when one of my girls was quite young, we realized she was suffering from allergies. I found a naturopath who treated allergies and she was able to assist my daughter in eliminating many of her allergies. For two or three years we consulted her with much success.
However, she then moved her office to a more wealthy community and I noticed that this very talented and capable healer (complete with degrees and certifications). was becoming invalidated and losing her certainty – she was unable to completely heal my daughter and she had other clients who were proving difficult to “cure”. We weren’t even looking for a complete cure – just some relief and improvement in her health without the aid of drugs.
Then on one office visit, she mentioned that she had studied a new method for clearing allergies and she performed this on my daughter. What I noticed immediately was that she didn’t truly believe in this new methodology, but was purely reciting out of a binder what she needed to do.
It was clear to me that she was losing her integrity as a healer in order to stay viable in her community and to prove her worth.
My daughter no longer enjoyed or benefitted from those office visits and so we stopped going. At her young age, she was able to see the change in this person she had previously enjoyed, trusted and looked forward to seeing. I was sad to see this happen.
True, it is important to continue to grow in any profession or calling. But there is a difference between continuing your personal growth and learning for the benefit of both yourself and those you would like to assist and getting caught in the game of prove it, or pretty packaging of your services in order to make a decent living or climb to the top of your game.
Talking of pretty packaging, does appearance really equate to value or worth? I just returned from Las Vegas where my youngest daughter was dancing in a competition. This was my first visit to this city where it is ALL about the packaging!
The bigger, the fancier, the prettier, the better! Glitz and glamour are representations of worth in this city, and supposedly even a representation of ambience – to be honest, I found little true ambience anywhere in Las Vegas.
It brought to mind an experience I had when, in my twenties, I took a vacation on my own to a resort in Jamaica. My first night there, the dinner buffet featured lobster. I was talking to a young man at the bar and he asked if I would like to taste the best lobster on the island. I was intrigued by his invitation and my gut instinct was to accept.
We hopped into his car and began a hair-raising drive through twists and turns, small villages and dark narrow streets at breakneck speeds. I was beginning to question my judgment in accepting this complete strangers invitation! We pulled up to a tiny, rundown shack with blue paint peeling off the walls and I seriously began to consider that I had made a terrible decision – was my life going to end here?
As it happened, appearances were truly deceiving! The tiny old restaurant was filled to capacity and bustling with happy customers, raucous laughter, lively conversation AND the lobster was the best I have ever tasted!
Healing may well be a gift and a calling – in my mind one that truly calls for honesty, sincerity, simplicity and integrity. Don’t get caught in the game of bigger is better. Very often, in the world of healing, less is more!
Stay true to your goals and those who seek you out will recognize your value.
You may not become a millionaire, but your rewards will be more satisfying than those any amount of money can offer!
Sue Arlen has studied and practiced meditation, spiritual healing and clairvoyance for over 25 years. She has been a massage practitioner for almost 18 years. Her passion is assisting each individual in finding their own information and answers and, as a result, their spiritual and physical wellbeing.