Evolving Into Sustainable Healthcare

By Stephanie Mines, PhD

My early childhood was a test of my will to be. During some of the most challenging periods, such as when sexual abuse was occurring, I would have preferred not to continue to live. But that option, tempting as it was, was not one I could ever thoroughly embrace although I often came close. Through this crucible I learned to be self-sufficient. I could not count on the people around me to nurture my spirit so I had to find ways to do that independently, even as a small child.

I found my own creativity and a relationship with Spirit that evolved out of my inner quest to make sense of the senseless. I found joy and encouragement in the inner world I developed; it kept me alive. From the standpoint of psychological attachment theory, I was in a unique category. My attachment was to my inner world rather than to my parents. I now realize this was a brilliant choice.

Being emotionally self-sufficient and self-referencing, and finding ways within myself to make life meaningful, launched me into a passion for what I now can call sustainability. I have a driving curiosity to discover those practices that awaken innate healing and that do not require dependency on others. Living in the midst of people who I could not trust, I learned to rally spiritual resources quietly, without taking a toll on anyone or anything around me. This defines sustainability.

I extracted resilience and resources from an untenable situation, one that I frequently was tempted to give up on completely. I marvel at how this early teaching mirrors what we face now in a climate-changing world. Our global situation, from an environmental science standpoint, is close to impossible. But I have learned that giving up only contributes to the dilemma so never giving up is the alternative.

Though I did not know it at the time, I can now see that I was being trained to be a voice in the Sustainable Healthcare movement that is crucial for a climate-changing world. What I now mean by Sustainable Healthcare is cultivating the preparatory healthcare practices that will get us through the disasters and difficulties of accelerating climate change. For me this is a natural extension of what I learned from my desperate early life that now stands me in good stead.

My personal quest has become collective. While the resources I uncovered for myself strengthened my own intelligence and wellbeing, I now am using that process as a template for inspiring a co-intelligent movement to awaken Sustainable Healthcare for a climate-changing world. This is an attitude, a state of being and it is underscored by faith in humanity.

Sustainable Healthcare requires a collective developmental shift from a narcissistic society to an unselfish one. Those who become more thoroughly self-regulating overflow with inspiration for others to do the same. The teacher evolves organically out of enthusiasm for the simplicity and potency of sustainable resources. These resources not only improve quality of life; they amplify wellness and allow a speedy recovery from illness. Dis-ease is not feared. It is seen in the context of learning and is part of the opportunity to live more fully, with greater honesty, and is an impetus to cultivate even more sustainable resources.

The resources I discovered first were in the arts. The second threshold came later in my development when I learned about energy medicine. In using both of these tools, I observed how the nervous system has the capacity to evolve. I learned that difficult states are not permanent. They shift when internal change occurs. Seeing how the nervous system can evolve in response to specific kinds of input, I became curious about what truly heals us, and what truly differentiates illness from health. How can we move ourselves in the direction of wellness when there is no access to an external healthcare system, whether because of finances, location, or other restrictions?

The resources that can shift the nervous system are the ones I cultivate and the ones I want to incorporate into a paradigm for Sustainable Healthcare that will be featured at the international conference I have convened for 2019, “Climate Change & Consciousness: Our Legacy for the Earth” (CCC19) at Findhorn in Scotland, from April 20-26, 2018.

Sustainable Healthcare will be modeled and taught at CCC19. Participants can learn practices every day, led by Sustainable Healthcare leaders. We will live in an environment in which our collective wellbeing is a shared event. We will practice what it means to evolve for the benefit of the whole and not only for our personal pleasure.

Prior to CCC19, I am creating pre-conference events featuring “Sustainable Healthcare for a Climate-Changing World.” The first of these will be in Oregon, at the Ananda Laurelwood Center, from June 11-16, 2018. Here, participants will experience both the arts and energy medicine as fundamental healthcare resources that anyone, at any stage of life, can utilize. In the spirit of empowerment and celebration we will draw forth the innate gifts we all have to live vibrantly and to claim both our personal and our collective climate justice.

If you would like to be part of this movement you can apply here to attend “Climate Change & Consciousness: Our Legacy for the Earth.”

Stephanie Mines, PhD is the author of We Are All in Shock: How Overwhelming Experiences Shatter You... and What You Can Do About It. She is the founder of the TARA Approach for the Resolution of Shock and Trauma, and the convener and vision holder for the April 2019 conference, “Climate Change & Consciousness: Our Legacy for the Earth.”

Click here to visit the website for The Tara Approach (Tools for Awakening Resources and Awareness) for Ending Traumatic Repetition in Families and Communities Worldwide.