How many times have you heard someone announce, “I’ve been cured of cancer,” or been told, “I just read about a new cure for that disease”? While it’s certainly exciting that medicine, medical research, and technology can effectively rid the body of many of the illnesses that only 20 or 30 years ago would have resulted in death, they still can’t effectively teach us how to heal or actually mend what ails us. Why? Curing and healing are not the same—not in their approach, what they require of the patient, or their results.

Unfortunately, even with all the advances, medicine is still measuring itself on curing, meaning restoring the body back to the state it was in before it became ill. It’s not looking at healing, getting the body back to better than it was before it became ill, because all the causes of the illness have been addressed.

The focus of curing is to address the needs of the physical body and to relieve it of any discomfort, aches and pains, symptoms, crises, and illness. It has little to do with treating the hidden contributors responsible for the formation of these effects. Instead, curing views good health as the absence of symptoms and the elimination of whatever is causing the body to not function properly, even if that means removing a part of the body. This approach means compensation and removal. For example, if a person is experiencing muscle cramps, the treatment is relaxants; if pain is present, then painkillers are prescribed. If the body is burning up with fever, curing seeks to cool it down; and if cancer is present, curing removes it. Curing plays an important role by giving a physical and mental reprieve from discomfort by using medications or surgery. This offers both the mind and the body time to try to restore some state of balance.

While this method certainly makes it easier for us to live physically, it doesn’t address the origin of the problem, only the effects. As a result, the perpetrators are still there and are continuing to gain strength, thus weakening the body’s ability to sustain good health.

Healing, on the other hand, begins with the soul and seeks to identify, transform, and remove any obstacles preventing it, the mind, and the body from working together in a unified manner. The objective is to make us better than we were before we became ill and to reestablish “wholeness” so that we can experience good health. It involves creating a harmonious internal space so we can explore the hidden contributors behind illness at a deeper level. We get in touch with who we are and are allowed to see just how powerful we can be if we free ourselves from the limitations of our conditioning.

The goal of healing isn’t fixing, it’s creating—creating a healthy self-perception, healthy thoughts, and healthy relationships. This approach embodies the qualities of the soul, such as loving, accepting, appreciating, compassion, patience, and tolerance. It honors our spiritual nature and acknowledges our efforts through good health. It liberates us from our past so that we’re free to create anew. This is an ongoing process of self-discovery and spiritual evolution that involves laughing, crying, playing, being silly, and being spontaneous. It’s a return to being the child who was eager to learn and to engage in the experiences of life for the sheer pleasure of finding out what’s possible.

However, healing can also seem difficult and uncomfortable at times, as the past and all of its dysfunction bubbles to the surface. In fact, there may be points in the process when we find ourselves asking whether we can really do it or if it’s worth the effort. However, if we persevere, we’ll be amazed by how many wonderful memories we’ll find in the mire and the muck. We’ll be astounded by how much we’ve accomplished and truly how rich our lives have been. We’ll find ourselves feeling good about who we are, and we’ll have the opportunity to touch a part of ourselves that’s more precious than anything we can ever acquire externally. We’ll make contact with our souls.

If we can remember that healing is a way of life and not something we strive to achieve when we’re ill, then we’ll be more inclined to live intelligently, simply, honorably, efficiently, and in alignment with our spiritual nature. Each day will then become a healing event.