Lets drop the illusion of there being a different kind of people who get to be healers while the rest of us skate. Were all called upon to be healers in our lifetimes, whether it is for ourselves or others. Perhaps one of the biggest challenges to our ability to live peaceably with each other is that we have forgotten our interdependence. This includes the concept that each of us is called upon to share equally in the bearing up of others who cannot do so on their own.

And the truth is there is not a one of us who doesnt need help sometimes.

Weve been trained to accept that theres a clear division between the healer and the patient. Healing itself does not distinguish between the two. It is a force that flows over and through and envelopes everything. Healing is something that brings things un-connected into connection.

Most of us discover that we are vehicles for healing when we chance upon a dynamic where everyone else is at a loss and we just seem to know what to do, do it, and then good comes of it. There we stand, witnesses to a shift in direction or energy that could not have happened without our presence. We realize that in some mysterious way we were placed in that situation to do a job.

Our lives are like huge key rings which hold innumerable keys which are the moments of our lives. These not only unlock the puzzles that live in our own situations, but are useful for others. The reason for this is simple. Since no one of us can experience and understand everything, we must rely on others to fill in the gaps.

The only thing that differentiates healers from others is that they put forth, by word or deed, the intention to use their gifts in service to others. From that moment on, it is as if healing, in its purest form, is activated. It then is only subject to the modulation caused by the maintenance or erosion of that intent and the cultivation of skills to affect it.

It is intention that activates healing. Calling upon healing intent does not necessarily mean what will happen next or who it will happen to is predictable. Healing energy has a much broader picture of any scene and goes where it is both needed AND accepted. Even it cannot go where it is not welcome.

Those who choose to work with healing intent learn to pay attention to the moment that is in front of them. Metaphorically, they identify which of the locks in that situation might respond to the particular keys they have available to use.

But like water, healing finds its own level. It cannot step into a room and not affect everything in it. When someone walks in to an out-of-control situation and is able to defuse the tension, the moment of healing that happens affects everyone in the room, including the person who facilitated that shift.

Healers learn to pay attention to where the healing energy that moves through them wishes to go. Who appears to be the focus of their attention may very well not be the target that healing wishes to effect. In fact, the wisdom of healing may dictate that the path to the healing of one involves the healing of another or others first.

Healers through most of history have understood that the healing of one could not occur outside of the context of For the good of all. Healing of the individual meant bringing someone who was out of connection with the greater community into deeper connection with the community that embraced them. Even though, for the most part, we have lost that sense of community connection, the force that is healing has not.

The healing energy that moves through you whether that expresses itself through procedures, therapies or comforting touch or words seeks a place, or places, to do its work. Of course there is the center of your attention, but there are always factors and people present that can be utilized to affect a greater result. Your job is to be open enough to allow healing to find its target, and not to resist when your internal sense begins to point out another possible direction to take to reach the intended destination.

Yes, of course, there is always the focus of both your attention AND intention, yet experience teaches its not always the patient whos the patient. By simply incorporating the intention to be present for the moment, no matter whom or what is in the picture, youll develop a second sense that directs you to the locks that will respond to the keys gifted you.