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Healing States: Engagement

"You tell me, you're the psychic."

I listened as Caroline Myss told of the comment that inspired her to take her career as a medical intuitive in a different direction. I'll share the story with you in just a moment. But I'll tell you right now that there was more behind Caroline's response to that comment than taking offense at a participant's careless quip.

The comment spoke volumes about the participant's frame of reference toward her own health and healing process. Simply, she was not engaged.

As a practitioner in a health care field myself, a state of engagement is easy to recognize. A person comes in with a particular goal in mind. As we pursue that goal, the engaged person offers feedback, asks questions, and shares relevant bits of their life story. The disengaged person -- figuratively and sometimes even literally -- settles in for a nap.

A short while ago, we explored the healing state of commitment. Today, we'll begin our look at engagement.

Engagement is the state of being present and involved.

When you've hired an outside party to perform routine maintenance on your car, an oil change for example, you can generally afford to disengage. Same with getting a leaky faucet or sticky lightswitch fixed. They're routine repairs commonly performed according to a set standard. You really don't need to micro-manage.

However when you yourself are the subject of the restoration process, it's a different story. You know yourself better than the most educated doctor, and you are responsible for implementing the ongoing lifestyle changes that will make the "fix" stick. Further, engagement is a visible sign that communicates to both you and the practitioners whose support you've requested that you care about the outcome.

Imagine a cancer patient saying to their oncologist, "Whatever, just fix it." Or a heart patient saying to the cardiac surgeon, "Hurry up and do your thing. I'm busy."

People do this, of course. But the results are often less than spectacular.

In order to effect a full and conscious healing process, the patient has got to be engaged. And that, I believe, was the truth behind Dr. Myss's insight.

Back in the day, she was developing her considerable skill as a medical intuitive. The term "medical intuition" refers to a person's ability to sense another person's state of health. We can all do this to a certain extent (you can tell when a friend or family member isn't well), but some people develop the skill to a much greater degree.

In Caroline's case, she can also quite reliably distinguish the underlying energy imbalance behind an illness. If a person works too hard, distrusts people, clings to worn-out hurts, refuses to forgive, martyrs herself caring for others, or any number of similar patterns, it might as well be broadcast with a neon sign. Caroline will see it, and she'll explain quite clearly the relationship between that old habit and the person's current state of health.

At least she did back then. In fact, she would regularly hold workshops during which she would give personal intuitive readings for every participant. Before the workshop would start, she'd often visit with people as they arrived, congenially getting aquainted with the group.

On that particular day, Caroline told us, she had introduced herself to one of the arriving participants by asking her, "and what can I help you with this weekend?"

The participant responded tartly, "You tell me. You're the psychic."

Caroline shared with our group her response to that comment. She did a quick double-take and sat down next to the participant, saying, "I'm going to sit here until I find a reason to thank you for that comment. And it may be a very long time."

Truth is, though, it didn't take her long. You see, something else had been bothering Caroline for a while, but she hadn't yet put her finger on it. As she delivered potentially life-changing insight to her clients in the form of an intuitive reading, she noticed that more often than not, they would seemingly ignore everything she told them.

What she realized that day was that her insight was not theirs. And that her clients would more likely act on information that they had gleaned for themselves. So instead of commencing the process of delivering readings for the entire workshop that weekend, she said, she offered them another option.

"This weekend," she told them, "I'm going to teach you to connect with your intuition yourself. There will be no readings. If you're not willing, I'll gladly refund your workshop fee."

Caroline had drawn a line in the sand. She was no longer willing to enable her clients' lack of engagement in their health process by attempting to do their "work" for them. The "old school" method of trying to do the person's healing process for them not only exhausted her -- it didn't serve the client either. Because, frankly, it didn't work.

She got no refund requests that weekend, so she told us. And a new style of teaching was born.


Elizabeth Eckert can help you explore how simple everyday choices create health — or undermine even the best of intentions. With a background that ranges from energy medicine to structural bodywork to developmental psychology, this "Stick-To-It Coach" has the experience to support you in creating the healthiest possible expression of — you!

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Elizabeth Eckert, Healthy Living & Wellness Coach

Elizabeth Eckert, PhD

I enjoy observing human nature and helping people get healthier. I'm the author of Word Cures, webmaster of the WordCures.com healthy living website, and an organic vegetable gardener. I hang out in spacious North Dakota with Max, my precocious pup. (more)

About This Article

This page contains a single entry from the Healthy Living DIY blog posted on February 3, 2007 10:49 AM.

The previous post in this blog was Conflict, Resolution, Relaxation.

The next post in this blog is Influence a Result ....

Many more can be found on the main index page or by looking through the archives.

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Note: The information and ideas offered here are personal opinions of a general nature. No opinion posted here constitutes medical advice, either general or personal. If you have a health concern, please consult with your medical doctor and follow his or her advice. The author disclaims responsibility for any misuse or misinterpretation of any opinion posted here.

(c) 2006-08 Elizabeth Eckert


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