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I know how uncomfortable and debilitating symptoms can be. I also know that healing THROUGH and WITH our symptoms requires a shift in how we relate to them, how we experience them, and how we think about them.

Our culture typically views symptoms as dysfunctions of the body or mind or as an interference to be avoided. They aren’t seen the way homeopaths see them; that is, as the adaptive, often necessary, healing responses of our Vital Force.

Scroll down to explore some of the empowering ways I think about symptoms. When you stop fighting and resisting your symptoms, you may find they have a lot to offer you.

Evidence of Your Vital Force

When an inner disturbance is experienced via a stressor/stimulus, your vital force works to overcome it. Symptoms reveal how your vital force is attempting to restore harmony.

Exposure to a virus is a good example. If the viral stimulus is strong enough and our vital force is strong enough, we respond with symptoms like runny nose, fever, cough. If there are no symptoms, either the virus is weak so the symptoms go undetected (they are mild and below the surface) OR the vital force is weak or suppressed, and the virus is allowed to make a home deeper in the body (this is often a precursor to chronic illness).

A Reflection of Unmet Needs

When your body, heart, mind, or soul is missing something, it will always let you know. Quality nourishment, rest, connection, authentic expression, safety, play…symptoms reveal where these needs are not being met.

This one is pretty straight-forward, yet we so often forget the direct connection between our needs being met and our thriving. I see folks pushing their bodies endlessly in lieu of rest, and they still expect their bodies to thrive or feel well, despite this neglect. Where there is an unmet need there is usually a symptom asking you to meet it.

An Expression of Self-Protection

When one or more parts of your Self doesn’t feel safe, they may create symptoms (often below the level of awareness) in an effort to self-protect. Survival is the (often unconscious) priority.

An example from my life: More and more I’m sharing my words and my work in the world (have you listened to Vital Force, the podcast yet?), and one of my parts sensed that this is not a safe thing to do. I started experiencing vocal fatigue and dysfunction in conjunction with using my voice more. How self-protective is it to be unable to speak when using your voice feels unsafe?!

Stored or Stuck Stuff Expressed

What is suppressed will eventually be expressed, whether it’s done with intention or the body does it for you. Symptoms reveal what has been pushed down, held in, silenced.

Suppression is not all bad, and is sometimes necessary for survival. Expression, however, is necessary for thriving. Suppression of emotions, skin eruptions, biological needs (sweat, stool, appetite/eating, rest), fevers, self-expression, etc. creates a disturbance within that will inevitably reveal itself as symptoms as the Vital Force seeks to restore harmony through expression.

Confirmation of Beliefs

Beliefs don’t exist only in your mind. The energy of your beliefs lives in your body, too. Symptoms may reveal where your embodied beliefs are being challenged or confirmed by you or by life.

If you believe your worth is tied to your appearance, your symptoms may be reflected in the skin. The skin is an outward expression of your inner experience, and skin symptoms may be reflective of this belief. Symptoms can be an invitation in this way to explore the beliefs that may no longer be serving us.

Just a Phase

It’s not profound, but sometimes you’re just moving through something you have to move through. (And homeopathy is here to support you if you get stuck)!

So often we want to cognitively understand our symptoms. We want to make sense of them. We want them to have meaning. And we want them to GO AWAY. While folks (myself included) often understand their symptoms in retrospect, our bodies are much more intelligent and mysterious than we give them credit for, and sometimes we just gotta let go of trying to figure it out so that dis-ease can actually move through us. Because more often than not, the body knows what to do if we allow it.

If you’d like to explore and begin healing THROUGH your symptoms in partnership with me, let’s chat. Book an exploratory session today.

Kellie Mox standing in front of the white flowers