“Why am I not healing?” “Why is this pain still here?” “Why do I feel stuck despite everything I’ve tried?”
If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, you’re not alone. As a holistic therapist practicing in Ireland for many years, I’ve sat with countless clients experiencing the deep frustration of healing that doesn’t follow their expected timeline.
We live in a world that celebrates quick fixes and immediate results. We’re surrounded by promises of overnight transformation and seven-day solutions. When our healing journey stretches beyond these artificial timelines, we often assume something is wrong – with our approach, our bodies, or ourselves.
But what if we’ve been asking the wrong question all along?
Shifting the Question: From “What’s Wrong?” to “What Wants to Be Seen?”
In my somatic therapy practice in Ireland, I’ve witnessed a profound shift happen when clients change one simple question. Instead of asking “What’s wrong with me?” they begin to ask, “What wants to be seen?”
This subtle shift moves us from judgment to curiosity, from frustration to openness. It acknowledges that our bodies and souls have an inherent wisdom that might be trying to communicate something important through our symptoms or challenges.
When we approach our healing journey from this perspective, we begin to recognize that sometimes what we call delay is actually divine timing, and what we experience as pain might be an invitation to grow in ways we never anticipated.
The Concept of Divine Timing in Your Healing Journey
Divine timing suggests that there is an intelligence at work in our healing process that extends beyond our conscious understanding. It’s the recognition that our healing unfolds not according to our preferred schedule, but in accordance with a deeper wisdom that honors the complexity of our whole being.
Consider these reflections:
- Sometimes healing doesn’t look the way we expect
- What we call delay may actually be divine timing
- What we call pain might be an invitation to grow
- If a challenge is present in your life, it might hold something sacred for you
This perspective doesn’t dismiss your pain or minimize your struggles. Rather, it offers a framework for finding meaning and direction when healing seems elusive.
Signs Your Healing Is Following Divine Timing
How do you know if your healing journey is following divine timing rather than simply being “stuck”? Here are some signs I’ve observed in my practice:
1. Recurring Themes and Patterns
The same lesson keeps appearing in different forms, each time with a deeper layer of understanding or a new facet to explore.
2. Synchronicities Around Your Healing
You notice meaningful coincidences – perhaps books, conversations, or practitioners appearing in your life at precisely the moment you need them.
3. Insights That Emerge in Their Own Time
Understanding comes not through forcing or figuring out, but through moments of clarity that seem to arise when your mind is quiet and receptive.
4. A Sense of Something Unfolding
Despite ongoing symptoms or challenges, you have an intuitive feeling that something important is taking shape beneath the surface.
5. Growth in Unexpected Areas
While the specific healing you’re seeking might seem delayed, you notice growth happening in other aspects of your life – perhaps in your relationships, self-awareness, or spiritual connection.
If you recognize these patterns in your own experience, your healing journey may be following a timeline that honors your whole being, not just the symptom or challenge you’re focused on addressing.
The Wisdom of “You Are Not Broken, You Are Becoming”
One of the most powerful shifts in perspective comes when we embrace the truth that we are not broken beings in need of fixing, but rather whole beings in the process of becoming.
This perspective invites us to see our challenges not as evidence of something wrong with us, but as part of our ongoing evolution and growth. It acknowledges that transformation is rarely comfortable or linear, but often involves periods of confusion, discomfort, and seeming stagnation.
In my meditation practice, I often invite clients to breathe in these words: “You are not broken. You are becoming.” The relief that washes over people when they truly take in this message is palpable. There’s a profound difference between trying to fix what’s broken and honoring what’s becoming.
The Body’s Sacred Language: Learning to Listen Deeply
Our bodies speak to us constantly through sensations, emotions, and symptoms. Yet we’ve often been conditioned to ignore, suppress, or override these messages rather than listening to them with curiosity and respect.
In somatic therapy, we recognize the body as a repository of wisdom and a vehicle for healing. When we learn to listen to our bodies with presence and compassion, we often discover that our physical experiences contain important information and guidance.
How to Practice Deep Inner Listening
- Create space for presence: Set aside time regularly to simply be with your body’s sensations without trying to change them.
- Approach with curiosity: When you notice pain, tension, or discomfort, ask “What might this be trying to tell me?” rather than immediately trying to make it go away.
- Notice where feelings live in your body: Different emotions and experiences register in different parts of the body. Begin to map your own personal geography of feeling.
- Ask “What wants to be seen?”: Direct this question to areas of physical discomfort or persistent symptoms, and then listen without expectation.
- Honor what emerges: Whatever arises – memories, emotions, insights, or simply sensations – meet it with acknowledgment and compassion.
This practice of inner listening can reveal messages and meanings that might otherwise remain hidden, offering new pathways for healing and integration.
Grace as a Healing Force in Your Journey
In the meditation I offer on Insight Timer, there’s a powerful moment where we imagine grace pouring down like light from above, helping us recognize that we are exactly where we’re meant to be.
Grace in the healing journey is the recognition that we don’t have to do it all alone through sheer force of will. There is a larger wisdom and support available to us when we open to receiving it.
This doesn’t mean passively waiting for healing to happen. Rather, it’s about partnering with the innate intelligence of your body and the supportive forces of life itself. It’s recognizing that sometimes the most powerful action we can take is to surrender our need to control the process and trust the unfolding.
As the meditation guides, “If this is here, it must hold something sacred for me.” This perspective allows us to meet even our most persistent challenges with openness rather than resistance.
A Guided Practice: Connecting with What Wants to Be Seen
To help you experience this approach directly, I’ve created a meditation specifically for those moments when you wonder “Why am I not healing?” or “Why do I still feel stuck?”
In this guided practice, you’ll:
- Shift from asking “what’s wrong” to “what wants to be seen”
- Connect with your body’s innate wisdom through gentle awareness
- Explore the concept of divine timing in your healing process
- Experience the relief of releasing the need to force or figure everything out
- Remember that you are not broken, but becoming
Many clients have found this meditation to be a turning point in their relationship with healing, offering a new perspective that brings both relief and deeper understanding.
Client Stories: Transformation Through Inner Listening
Names and identifying details have been changed to protect privacy.
Elaine’s Story: After years of chronic fatigue that hadn’t responded to countless treatments, Elaine came to my practice feeling deeply frustrated and broken. Through our somatic work together, she began to listen to what her exhaustion was trying to tell her. She discovered that her body was creating boundaries that her people-pleasing mind couldn’t set. Her fatigue wasn’t a failure of healing—it was wisdom trying to protect her from a lifetime pattern of self-abandonment. Once she could hear and honor this message, her energy began to shift in profound ways.
Martin’s Story: Following a career setback, Martin developed persistent digestive issues that numerous specialists couldn’t resolve. In our sessions, he began to ask “what wants to be seen?” rather than “what’s wrong with me?” Through this inner listening, he recognized that his body was processing grief and loss that his busy mind hadn’t given space to acknowledge. As he created room for these emotions, his digestive system began to find balance again. The healing wasn’t about fixing his stomach—it was about hearing what his whole system needed to express and integrate.
These stories illustrate how symptoms that seem like obstacles to health can actually be doorways to deeper healing when we learn to listen to their messages.
Practical Ways to Embrace Inner Listening in Your Daily Life
Bringing this approach into your everyday experience doesn’t require hours of meditation or dramatic life changes. Here are simple practices you can incorporate into your daily routine:
1. Morning Body Check-In
Before launching into your day, take two minutes to scan your body from head to toe, simply noticing sensations without judgment. Ask gently, “What wants my attention today?”
2. Symptom Dialogue
When you experience physical discomfort, place a hand on that area and ask, “What might you be trying to tell me?” Then simply listen, without expecting an immediate answer.
3. End-of-Day Reflection
Before sleep, notice where you’re holding tension in your body. Instead of trying to release it, simply acknowledge it with the question, “What is this tension holding for me?”
4. Patience Practice
When feeling frustrated with your healing progress, place a hand on your heart and say, “I trust divine timing. I am exactly where I need to be.”
5. Permission Slips
Write yourself literal permission slips for what your healing journey needs: “I give myself permission to heal at my own pace” or “I give myself permission to listen to my body’s wisdom.”
These simple practices can gradually shift your relationship with your healing journey, opening new pathways for insight, integration, and transformation.
The Invitation: Trusting Your Unique Healing Journey
As we conclude, I invite you to consider that perhaps there is nothing wrong with your healing journey. Perhaps it is unfolding exactly as it needs to, with an intelligence that honors the complexity of your whole being.
In my years of practice in Ireland, I’ve come to deeply trust that our healing processes contain wisdom beyond our understanding. When we learn to listen to what wants to be seen, we open to receiving not just the healing we sought, but often something far more comprehensive than we could have imagined.
If you’re feeling stuck in your healing journey, I invite you to experience the “Divine Timing” meditation on Insight Timer. Allow it to guide you into a new relationship with your healing process—one of curiosity, trust, and deep inner listening.
Remember the powerful truth that has transformed so many of my clients’ healing journeys: You are not broken. You are becoming.
Abi Beri is a holistic therapist based in Ireland, specializing in somatic therapy and family constellations. He offers in-person sessions and online consultations internationally. To learn more about working with Abi or to access additional healing resources, visit www.blissfulevolution.com, www.somaticthearpyireland.com, or www.familyconstellationseurope.com.
Frequently Asked Questions About Inner Listening and Divine Timing
Q: How do I know if my healing delay is about divine timing versus needing a different approach?
A: First, ensure you’ve addressed the basics with appropriate healthcare. Beyond that, notice if you’re experiencing meaningful insights, synchronicities, or growth in unexpected areas despite seemingly slow progress with specific symptoms. These often indicate divine timing at work.
Q: What if I don’t receive clear messages when I ask “What wants to be seen?”
A: Inner listening is a practice that deepens over time. Begin by simply noticing sensations without needing them to “speak” in words. Messages may come as subtle feelings, images, or intuitive knowing, not necessarily as clear verbal information.
Q: How does somatic therapy help with listening to the body’s wisdom?
A: Somatic therapy provides frameworks and practices for connecting with bodily sensations and understanding their significance, helping you develop a relationship with your body’s natural intelligence.
Q: Is this approach compatible with medical treatment?
A: Absolutely. Inner listening and divine timing complement medical care rather than replacing it. Many clients find that combining appropriate medical treatment with these perspectives leads to more comprehensive healing.
Q: How long should I practice inner listening before expecting results?
A: Rather than focusing on results, approach inner listening as an ongoing relationship with yourself. Some insights may come immediately, while deeper patterns may reveal themselves gradually over months of practice. Trust that the process unfolds in its own perfect timing.
