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Creative
Ways to Transform Challenges: Finding Healing in
Adversity, Part II Margaret
Hiller, M.A. When
David Hiller and I did a workshop in A few
weeks later, he called us and said, “Well, I’ve done it.” “What would that be?” we asked. “I’ve opened to ‘the great mystery’,” he answered. Then, he told us the following
story. When this
doctor first specialized in infectious diseases twenty years ago, he did not
know that most of his work would be with the AIDS community. He walked into the
hospital room of one of his AIDS patients two weeks after the work shop, and
said to the young man, “I don’t know what else to do for you.” He then took
a pause and a deep breath. We had advised him to pause and breathe when he
wanted to open up to “the great mystery”. We had advised him to pause and
breathe when he didn’t know what to do next. Afterwards, he added to his
patient, “I don’t know what else to do. What does your wisdom say we should
do?” When was
the last time your medical doctor asked you that? Fortunately, by the way, more
and more of them are asking that question.
It’s a great shift that’s going on.
This
young man then asked this medical doctor, “Will you hold me?” Now when
our friend the medical doctor heard that request, he looked at his watch and
thought, “Gee, I’ve got a lot of patients to see.” But he remembered his decision to open up to
“the great mystery”. He took another
pause and deep breath. Then, he climbed up in bed with that man and held him
for two hours. I later
told our friend, “You know twenty minutes would have been enough! Two hours!” At the
end of two hours, this young man’s family arrived. This medical doctor looked up at them and
said, “Now you get to do this part,” and for the next twelve hours, this young
man’s family took turns holding him. His mother, his father, his siblings, his
friends—they each took turns climbing up in bed with him and holding him. At the end of twelve hours, the young man
died healed. Was his
body cured of AIDS? No. Did he die
healed? Yes. A remarkable shift went on for that young man
in those twelve hours. He died without
anxiety, without fear. He died a peaceful death, and just as importantly, his
family experienced healing. There was
forgiveness. There was acceptance. There was healing of old family hurt and
pain. They later reported that it was the most valuable twelve hours that any
of them had ever lived through together. What is Healing? Sometimes
healing includes a cure for the body. All of us have heard about and seen
remarkable outcomes for people with cancer, heart conditions, and all kinds of
medical issues. But what is healing? Dr. Jeanne Achterberg wrote a book called Woman
as Healer (Shambhala Publications,
Inc., I found
her book so valuable that I included the information in a booklet that I wrote
for a women’s conference in According
to Dr. Achterberg:
We’ve
experienced this in our own lives and in the lives of the people with whom we
work, we find that something good, some kind of healing can even come out of
adversity. For the women from Littleton, for the AIDS patient and his family,
for the AIDS doctor, for those of us experiencing challenges, we need to learn
to trust that something good, some kind of healing will come out of even the
hardest and most painful life experiences.
Margaret Hiller, M.A., is an ordained minister,
spiritual counselor, author and has a masters degree in therapeutic psychology.
Her healing work is psycho spiritual with an interfaith focus. She has traveled
extensively since 1979, teaching and counseling about the spiritual aspect of
body/mind healing. Margaret frequently speaks at various Unity and Religious
Science churches throughout the country and teaches a workshop entitled "Dynamic
Heart Connected Public Speaking". She is presently in the
process of writing a book on Generational Healing. Adapted from a talk given by Margaret and David Hiller at
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