Are you among the more than 75% of adults in the United States living with at least one chronic condition – such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, or depression?
This cannot be explained by an aging population alone. It is even more concerning that these conditions are increasingly affecting younger generations.
And this, despite the fact we have more medical knowledge than ever before, with more technology and more specialists.
Modern medicine, especially in acute situations, is extraordinary. It saves lives every single day. For this, I feel deep gratitude.
And yet, when it comes to chronic conditions, it seems that we are just managing symptoms… rather than healing.
People learn to live alongside their symptoms – sometimes for years, sometimes for decades.
This raises an essential question:
Are we only fixing symptoms?
Or are we truly healing?
When we experience pain or discomfort, it is deeply human to want immediate relief. Of course we want it to go away. Relief brings comfort, stability, and the possibility of returning to normal life.
But what if a symptom is not only a disturbance?
What if it is also a message?
Sometimes a symptom disappears after treatment, and we feel grateful. But months later, or years later, it returns. Occasionally in a different form. Sometimes more intense.
What began as something small and acute becomes chronic, and in some cases, even life-threatening.
It can feel as if life itself is saying: There is more here. Please listen.
An ancient myth beautifully illustrates this deeper dimension of healing.
The Hydra: A Mirror of Our Inner World
In Greek mythology, there is a serpent called the Hydra. She lived in deep waters – symbolizing the emotional realm – and guarded the entrance to the underworld, the place of what is hidden or pushed away.
She had many heads. Whenever one head was cut off, two more would grow in its place.
Everything about her was poisonous.
Hercules, the hero of great strength and courage, was called to defeat her. He entered the dark waters and each time he cut off a head, he used fire to cauterize the wound so it would not grow back.
Fire represents awareness. Presence. Conscious transformation.
But there was one immortal head that could not be killed. So, he buried it beneath a rock, hidden from view. The danger appeared to be gone.
But what is buried and not transformed does not disappear.
Years later, Hercules himself dies from the Hydra’s poison. And in his final act, he enters the fire – and is transformed.
To me, this myth reflects how we often treat symptoms. We try to remove the visible manifestation without exploring the deeper layers, without bringing awareness to what is beneath the surface.
True healing is not suppression. True healing is transformation. And transformation begins with awareness.
The Body Speaks
The body is always striving for balance and is always moving toward healing.
When symptoms arise, a meaningful question is not only, “How do I get rid of this?” but also, “What may be blocking the body’s natural healing forces?”
Some causes may be physical – such as nutrition, toxins or environmental influences. But often, symptoms are connected to our inner lives:
Stress that has accumulated over time.
Emotional pain, trauma that has not been fully processed.
Grief that has not been expressed.
Beliefs about ourselves that create inner tension.
Ways of living that are no longer aligned with who we truly are.
My understanding is that we are not simply bodies that have souls, we are souls having a human experience. And through the body our soul speaks to us. Gently at first, and sometimes more urgently when we do not listen.
Symptoms are an invitation – to pause, to inquire, to realign.
Even our everyday language reflects this inner wisdom:
“This is a pain in the neck.”
“It takes my breath away.”
“This breaks my heart.”
“I can’t stomach this.”
The body communicates honestly and speaks in metaphors. From a psychosomatic perspective, every organ is connected to specific emotions. The question is: Are we willing to listen?
A Brief Story of Transformation
I once worked with a man who had lived with allergies his entire life. Eventually, he developed asthma. He had come to identify himself as “an allergic person.”
His body reacted to pollen, dust, animals.
As we explored his experience together, a deeper pattern emerged. Beneath the physical symptoms was a profound sense of fear. At a deep level, his system experienced life itself as unsafe.
This was not something he had consciously chosen. It was something his nervous system had learned.
As he began gently working with this inner belief, not fighting it, but understanding it, something began to shift. Gradually, his asthma disappeared.
What touched me most was not simply the absence of symptoms; it was the presence of trust. He no longer experienced himself as fragile or threatened. He experienced himself as safe in life.
Today, when sensations arise in his body, he responds differently. He pauses, he listens. He asks inwardly: “What are you trying to show me?”
The symptom is no longer an enemy. It has become a guide.
And that changes everything.
Healing Begins with Listening
I’d like to invite you, just for a moment, to bring to mind a symptom that feels recurring or unresolved.
Not to fix it.
Just holding space and gently ask:
What are you trying to show me?
What wants to be seen?
And then simply listen with curiosity.
With presence.
With compassion.
Let the symptom guide you.
