The Healing Paradox

All my free time for the last few days has been absorbed in reading Dr Steven Goldsmith's book The Healing Paradox. I came across it in Mallow library last weekend and began reading it on Sunday. It is full of fascinating insights ( from his 40 years practise of medicine, psychiatry, psychotherapy, and homoeopathy not to mention his teaching posts).
For example,  he gives us insights into how what we call 'side effects' of drugs can also be viewed more positively,  when we acknowledge them as the body's resistance to an invader ( the drug ). This resistance which medicine works to suppress is actually a sign of the body's strength and desire to heal itself.
Goldsmith describes his own struggles with  Ménière's disease ( a disorder of the inner ear that can affect hearing and balance to a varying degree. It is characterised by episodes of vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss). He eventually cured himself through the use of a homoeopathic remedy having discovered that the use of conventional drugs were not actually a cure but just a way of coping with the symptoms of the disorder.
The book ( in my opinion ) is written a little like a detective novel in which Goldsmith investigates what healing really is and what it is not. He is in search for cures that return people to optimal health not to dependence on drugs that keep people alive but unhealthy.
This  resonates completely with my passion for optimal living. It is so inspiring to 'meet' others who believe in living life fully,  in searching for solutions that are a true healing.
Goldsmith tells us that our illness are opportunities for growth, they point to imbalances that are asking to be resolved and that when we resolve these imbalances we emerge from the encounter stronger and wiser knowing ourselves better.

His research confirm my own experience with healing in that the healing happens from the inside out, it needs to be very personal. What I mean is that each body-mind is unique and so the way it heals will be unique and personal. Our life can be seen in a way as a healing journey whether we have a 'physical' illness which needs to be addressed or just a deep yearning for meaning, for healing of the soul, for completion.

I am deeply grateful to Dr Goldsmith for all the time, research, and sharing of stories that went in to the writing of his book. I feel healed and inspired to continue my own personal healing explorations
afresh thanks to his work.