Story as Medicine

A long, long time ago, even before I graduated from high school, I heard about a doctor/healer in the area. It was said that this doctor healed cancer, but didn't use any type of allopathic treatments. In fact, patients when to his office for a session that lasted 3 or more days and all they did was talk. The doctor said nothing, the patient talked and talked and talked and talked and talked.

I never had need to check this doctor out, but the story has stayed with me these many years, with the same lasting, indelible impression it made on me then. Why? How is it that just talking healed these people? What is so special about talking? How did this doctor know?

There is so much we keep so very hidden within ourselves. Story is medicine. It's almost like spring cleaning of the subconscious mind. When you commit to keep talking until it's all out - how much talking is that? What all comes out? My guess is that it gets harder and harder to talk, to think about things to talk about. I would imagine you have to start telling stories about your life - things you've witnessed, things you've heard about, and all the startling and traumatic drama you have lived through.

And it's when this stuff comes up - and keeps coming and coming - that an element of liberation starts happening. It's like the talking becomes a sieve and the little bits of crud and stuff get filtered out. The more you do it, the purer your talk gets, the more you talk, the clearer your story gets, the more you get the drama out, the less there is to emote about, the more you get out, the less there is to bog you down, the lighter you are, the more you can experience Light and Love. How free is that?

Whether we write or talk, this cleansing is vital to the human spirit. Too often we are trapped behind walls and connected only by wires and wirelesses. It can get way too cruddy and stock full of stuff that way. We need connection. We need human spirit. We need someone to just listen to us, the way that doctor listened to his patients, because in being heard is healing. This is a habit worth cultivating. Heal the world by both being the listener and being heard.

Blessings.
- Darshan



© 2010 Darshan F jessop