ONE STEP FROM HEAVEN

Chapter Eight Those Who Heal & Mend Us Wounds can take place on several levels, in mind, body and spirit. Fortunately, a whole range of healers exist to help put us back together whenever we are hurt, broken or lost. Those who communicated with us from the spirit world had many stories to tell of healing, or of being healed. A traditional healing role in many societies is that of the district nurse or equivalent figure, who calls on the local community, those patients in recovery from an operation, those requiring wounds to be dressed, those with various illnesses, and new mothers and their babies. In the past, in Britain, the district nurse was a familiar figure, cycling around on a bicycle with a big basket on the front to contain her medical bag. One came forward to tell us about her former life in that role. ‘I had a bicycle to start off with, and then I got a car. So I came to know many, many people on my daily rounds – and what a contrast there was in living conditions! I wondered how some could survive. I told these families about the help they could get, and I might whisper in the right ear at the hospital about those who needed additional assistance in some capacity. Then off I’d go to the local schools, to check the children’s hair for nits. Times were hard, but the children were robust and they had school dinners every day. ‘And now I am coming back, and there are quite a few of us here who were “therapists” – that is the word I will choose, since we all share the desire to heal. We feel we can be of service to humanity, and that is why we are choosing to come back at this time.’ One returning soul who had been fast-tracked and was ready to depart, lost their place in the queue in order to stay behind to pass on a message. ‘I stand here to represent the medical profession. As you will learn as you read through this chapter, humanity is good at creating its own ill health. We who worked in medicine were no different. Our jobs in Accident & Emergency, or on the Oncology and End of Life wards just to name a few, could be very pressurised, and we could forget that we were part of a team and take all the pressure on to ourselves. Pressure can make one ill. I can honestly put up my hands and say I was not the best at dealing with the pressures that my working life as a doctor, and the pressures from my family life, caused me. ‘Life is so precious. That is something that many of us only understand once we have passed through to the spirit world. So remember to support and love each other, as well as supporting and loving those patients who come to you for treatment. We are all very excited about returning to face the trials of becoming a human being again. But take our love, and thank you for listening. Life, yes, life is precious.’ Those who work in the medical profession are not immune from accidents themselves, as explained by a former surgeon who had spent most of his life in hospitals. ‘I loved it – I loved making a difference. I worked on many of the casualties who came in, and then was a casualty myself – and so that’s how I passed. I don’t remember what happened, but what I do know is that I am ready and eager to return and work in a hospital again. There is so much more that I need to do and accomplish in order to help the patients.’ A hardworking cleaner in a hospital discovered her vocation whilst getting through her daily tasks. ‘I was what you’d call a char – a Mrs Mop. My duties at the local hospital were washing and wiping down the stairs, and cleaning and dusting in the wards. I also took round the tea trolley and chatted to the patients. I learned a lot during my working day. In the afternoon I was a volunteer and helped with the book round and could go and buy anything the patients wanted from the hospital shop. Looking back, my entire life was centred around the hospital. When I come back, I am determined to train to be a nurse, and I shall help as many people as I can when I am nursing.’ A rather cynical doctor learned to change his mind about spiritual healing. ‘In my last lifetime, I was a physician. I had heard of spiritual healing but scoffed at the idea: it wasn’t a pill, so what could it cure? But then I saw the difference that was made to individuals when they had received spiritual healing. They might walk into the room with a greyish, depressed aura about them, but then walk out manifesting a variety of colours that I found I could actually see! That was something I had never witnessed before. As I understand it now, spiritual healing starts on the outside and works through to the inside, affecting the physical body, the emotional body and, of course, the thinking body. ‘It was quite spectacular to observe what was going on. The ladies in the group also sat down and did what they said was “earth healing”. The result was the appearance in the room of a lot of shapes, shadows and energies – it’s the only way I can describe it - and some bright sparks in amongst all this were working frenziedly to gather up all of this energy and take it away somewhere. ‘I hope that on my return, if I choose to be a doctor again, that I will have much more of an open mind and will see the value in alternative medicines, other than a pill.’