Recognizing and Healing Broken Spirits

For years as a psychiatric nurse, I have asked the same assessment questions built by healthcare systems to ensure that patients are meeting criteria for treatment. Not one of these questions has anything to do with the spiritual sickness of someone. Imagine, if you will, what kind of responses I receive, when I do ask questions regarding the spirit of another human being. This type of inquiry is not in the  box of assessment questions. Depression and anxiety are symptoms of being disconnected from the spirit, or perhaps a memory loss of the the light we all were born with. This forgetfulness renders the inability to be in the present moment. Anxiety is caused from overthinking of the future, the past, or reruns of attachment to the same scenario or baggage. I use simple calming exercises to get someone in their present moment, and the realization that nothing is going on in that moment, is refuge. For being rescued from our thoughts, that cause such illness, might be equated with seeking refuge from the madness. For the question of what does it mean to be human, it is the ability to have empathy for other beings. In the world of behavioral medicine, we are always addressing the outside symptoms, caused by inside manifestations. This process of  fixing the outsides, also keeps one in a state of forgetfulness regarding the spirit. When I ask someone with depression about their spirit, I get many surprised looks, because to them their symptoms have everything to do with life circumstances. Creating space to allow others to remember who they are, is through listening to what is in their heart, and aiding them in connecting it to their mind. When the heart is disconnected from the mind, it eventually causes illness and disease. We were born to feel what another being is going through, and this innate ability to connect with other beings on the level of spirit creates a pathway to healing. Empathy, does not require understanding the circumstances of others, or what their outside symptoms are, but to feel their displacement or disconnection. And so, it is through listening, and engaging on that spiritual plane, that we recognize the broken pieces, lost memories, and where healing begins.