The healing moment: A heuristic study of the lived experience of healing of a select group of women of midlife

This purpose of this study was to illuminate and find meaning in the phenomenon of the "healing moment" through the context of the lived experience of healing of a select group of women of midlife. "Healing," for the purpose of this study, is regarded holistically, and refers to the physical, mental, social, and spiritual processes of transformation that lead to the increase of wholeness, order, and coherence of the individual. "Healing," used in this context, may or may not involve the physical curing of disease or illness. The methodology used in the study was the heuristic process. The data analysis of this heuristic study includes aspects of the primary researcher's experience of the "healing moment" interwoven with that of the participants/co-researchers. In this study, the individual stories of healing were collected through in-depth interviews with five women between the ages of 42 and 60. An individual depiction of each woman's lived experience of healing was created, with particular focus on her experience of the "healing moment," i.e., the moment or time when she felt her healing began, or was set into motion. From there, a composite depiction was created which included the qualities, themes, and essences that comprise the universal nature of the meaning of the women's experiences of the "healing moment." Finally, through the utilization of the heuristic process in analyzing the data, a creative synthesis was written, taking the form of a poem which represented the themes and nuances of the collective experience of the co-researchers' "healing moment." From the analysis of the midlife women's experience of the "healing moment" within the context of the lived experience of healing, several relevant themes emerged, both in the participants/co-researchers state of mind leading them into the "healing moment," and in the actual occurrence of the "healing moment" The emergent themes of the experience were: acknowledgment of pain; willingness to heal; surrender or relinquishment of control over life situation(s); open mind; request for help; suspension of rational mind; clarity; realization of truth; forgiveness; self-acceptance; and spiritual interconnectedness. This current study contributes to the understanding and clarification of the phenomenon of spiritual healing