Mindfulness as Medicine: A Story of Healing Body and Spirit

To see that our life is so short and fragile, and yet so amazing, we learn to be more careful with our thoughts and speech and bodily actions.

vividly. It seems as if the barrier between the store consciousness and the mind consciousness becomes more porous when we’re sick, so that images of the past can arise more forcefully than ever.

As I was in touch with my body and its fragility, I saw clearly that I don’t have complete control over it. I take care of it the best way I can, but I also have to accept what would become of it.

I hope that young people become more aware of the messages that you are sending to your body. Learn to cherish this life and evoke life in every cell of your body. Express confidence in your body and in its capacity to heal and transform.

Suddenly, I gained an insight—that it is our attachments, hatreds, and closed views that imprison us as hungry ghosts, preventing us from going forward and living in the happiness that is available.

“My body and mind are still whole and intact. Thank you for still being intact.”

We should be able to rejoice in the wellness of our being, physically and mentally. We definitely don’t have to play the role of a sick person for attention or pity.

We also learn not to identify ourselves with our illness; this illness is a part of us, but it is not everything about us. There is ill-being in certain parts of our body, but there is well-being in the rest of our body as well.

In practicing mindfulness of our body and mind, we give ourselves the attention and love we need and we take care of ourselves moment to moment, so that we don’t need so much from others.