Expectations for Homeopathic Healing

No one likes to be sick. Everyone wants to feel better. Suffering is common to every person on the planet. No one ever gets away without suffering. Everyone has a reason for their suffering. It is not without cause and an opportunity to heal. Everyone has an expectation about their healing, including the treating homeopath. But what we see and how people heal is not always what they or the homeopath wants. The bottom line is, we do not get to choose how, or even if, healing will occur.

If this is the case, then why would anyone ever want to be a homeopath or embark on a homeopathic healing journey? Because we see miracles often and healing does happen. It just may not appear as we might think.

Most people who have been raised in western society have been indoctrinated into the drug, surgery, or radiation model of treatment. Assuming the person takes a drug or has a surgery, the expectation is that the suffering will end and the person will heal. Increasingly, it seems that the expectations do not match the results. More and more people are still suffering and are choosing a different course of medicine to achieve their healing.

Too often though, the expectation that a person has of their homeopathic healing is the same as they have with the western medical drug approach. They assume that if they take the remedy, they will have a similar response to taking the drugs. This could not be further from the truth.

First, healing is a process and not an event. When a drug is taken, the physiological effects can be dramatic and something can change in the person's sensation. The expression of the disease, expressed by the vital force, has not been changed, only suppressed. Physiological changes do occur but the reason why the vital force expressed the dis-ease in the first place has not been healed. When only the physiology has changed, the mental,  emotional and spiritual aspects of the person remain unchanged. The dis-ease is still present. The greatest reason the person became dissatisfied with western medicine is because the suffering usually returns in a short time, only to have to go through it again. Each attempt the vital force uses to express the dis-ease only gets thwarted again and again. Eventually, the entire health of the individual decreases and more dis-ease and suffering continue. It becomes a vicious circle.

True healing is a process and not an event. It is expressed by the continued expression of the vital force so that we can have multiple opportunities to heal. When someone comes to homeopathy with the expectation that they will "heal" in a similar way to drug intervention, there is often great disappointment. Sometimes the body needs much longer than the person feels able to endure. Then the conclusion is that the remedy is not working and homeopathy doesn’t work. The next step is usually back to the drug approach.

One important thing we need to share with our clients is what the expectation for homeopathic healing is. It still may not be enough for the person to stay with a new healing approach. They have to really want to go through the healing process and are willing to stay the course. I am not suggesting that we just assume that healing is always occurring, but to look for the ways that the vital force is expressing the dis-ease and the subtle changes happening at all levels of their being. This requires great powers of observation and being an unprejudiced observer.

This process takes time. I have never seen a person change dramatically overnight. Even with the drug approach, there needs to be time for changes to be recognized. The vital force needs to express the disease (aggravation) then establish a new energy of health. When a person does not like their life, taking a remedy can initiate healing. Then it takes time, usually years for the changes to become the new norm. They did not become who they are overnight. They always had freedom of choice in making the decisions that led up to their current level of dissatisfaction. They will need to make new decisions repeatedly to establish a new level of happiness and satisfaction in their life. Healing is not easy or without suffering.

Time is mercy. Healing takes time. The sore hip from the injury 25 years ago will not usually heal in a month. The acute expression of the chronic colds and cases of flu will not heal immediately upon taking a remedy. The fear around a commitment that leads to reservations about marriage will not go away in two months. The frustrations regarding money and work will not just magically disappear. New opportunities are being presented daily for making a different choice before we may start to see the patterns of our habitual thinking change.

It is important to remind our clients that healing takes time. That change does not happen quickly for most people. That timing and readiness to heal are very important. Healing is not dependent on willingness. But willingness is the grease that allows the change to occur quicker and easier. Resistance is not always futile, but it makes the journey a bit harder in the long run. Positive expectation is good but it must be tempered with the willingness to see the aggravation through, knowing that change is happening at some level. All too often the client will not experience change quickly enough, or the homeopath will not have conviction in the remedy and have the belief that the remedy is no longer working. We leave good remedies all too often during the homeopathic aggravation.

Be clear what the expectation is for your client and yourself regarding their healing. Expectations can lead to disappointment when we do not see what we want. We do not get to choose how our clients will heal. Our job is to remain the unprejudiced observer and simply do what we feel is right concerning the persons healing response.