If you have never read ‘The Secret Garden’ by Frances Hodgson Burnett, then read no further, go and read that book and then come back! Seriously – it is one of the most beautiful children’s stories ever told and I have just finished reading it to my eight year old daughter.
It is a story at many levels, but ahead of its time it reveals the power of our psyche in affecting our physical health and how changing the way we think can alter our wellbeing – both physical and mental. Colin, a rejected and yet thoroughly spoilt boy believes he is going to develop a hunch back and die young. His entire life is driven by anxiety of what might happen and a kind of hatred of himself and the world around him. That is until a girl, who was once very similar to him and a boy, who is as free and loving as any human could be, enter his life and awaken the possibility of transforming hope.
I have seen so many patients over the years who believe incredibly negative things about themselves and the world around them. Some of them have evidence to back this up and others most certainly do not. What amazes me time and again is that those who allow their minds and thought patterns to be transformed become much physically stronger and more whole. Those who refuse to change the way they think (because it is actually a choice and a retraining of our thoughts – no one else actually makes us do it) stay as they are and get worse, which always makes me sad. It is not simply about the power of positive thinking. It is choosing to align yourself with a wholly different story, with a different set of imaginings, with hope for the future in place of despair, with love in place of fear.
Colin finds the ‘magic’ that helps him to change. The same magic that causes the plants to grow and the seasons to change; that allows creatures to give birth and the birds to sing their songs. The magic that teaches a boy to walk, a girl to reach out, a hardened old man to cry and a father and son to restore a broken relationship. The magic that allows the place of our greatest pain to become a place of redemptive joy. The magic that allows a human heart to soften and learn to love. It’s what John Newton calls ‘amazing grace’. It’s what I call the Holy Spirit. The dancing One who breaths life through everything and invites us into this same dance. To throw off self-pity and shame and to find life in all its fullness instead. All it takes really is the deliberate choice that we can change and once we open up the possibility, well, truly anything can happen!
