Doctor's Day 2024

Wings and stethoscope: Healers of hope

A very Happy Doctor’s day to all my fellows. The theme of this year’s Doctor’s Day (celebrated on 1st of July every year) is Healing hands and caring hearts, Wings and stethoscope: Healers of hope. This theme compelled me to reflect on my 24 years of journey as a doctor, how I evolved and transformed into a healer in a real sense.

In India, being a bright student means either you will be an IITian or a Doctor and I was pretty sure that my relationship with mathematics will not last long and I strengthened my bonds with Bio. Bio came naturally and stayed effortlessly with me till 12th. Becoming a medical graduate was the toughest and physically more challenging journey than mentally. Again, I observed I had some inner knowing of physiology, pathology and medicine even before studying the subjects. At that age, adolescents are so distracted that there’s hardly any conscious effort to understand why it was so? Same was my case. I never wanted to know how I was naturally good at diagnosis and management. Answering difficult questions by Dr. Johrapurkar Sir or diagnosing disease from X-rays shown felt like big achievements and they were of course, at that tender age. But, the question that how could I do so even without really studying the subject, never crossed my mind. Now, when I contemplate retrogradely, I am amazed to have that understanding. I was always meant to be a healer and my spiritual team was guiding me throughout, even when I was unaware of their presence and my inborn talents.

After completing my post-graduation and entering the field as a professional, getting married and having kids were usual life events that followed. But, after 5 years working in the field, I started feeling a vaccum, a sense of dissatisfaction and thoughts that my potentials are underutilized in this profession started to emerge. Then the real quest started ‘Who am I?’ and this was the beginning of a spiritual journey.

When I first asked this question to myself, the answer was simple that I am a seeker, a good learner and I like to help others, naturally due to the impact of family sanskars and the profession I was into. Later on, when I dwelt with the question little longer, I was awestruck with the learning that actually my happiness and satisfaction lie in giving hope to those who have been knocked down by the challenges in their lives motivating and empowering those who had lost hope, especially adolescents and students. I was finding myself inadequate to fulfil this new-found purpose of my life with the kind of qualification I possessed and this how I ended up doing courses in mental health, life coaching, medical education technology (advanced and masters) and career counselling. As a seeker of knowledge, learning kept me happy and the tools I learnt helped people around. I explored and discovered how soft skills and emotional intelligence play a vital role in personality development and becoming the best version of ourselves. So, I trained myself in these fields also.

Diving deeper in to the endless wisdom of inner self and spirituality, I learnt healing is not only physical, but, mental, emotional, ancestral, karmic and metaphysical as well. I learnt that Archangel Raphael is the spiritual guide for people working in health care sector and I started working with his energies. Similarly, every time I had an issue or challenges at workplace or family, I new exactly whom to call for help from my spiritual team. Sometimes I called upon Lord Shiva for financial issues or clearing karmic debts. Sometimes, I healed my emotional self with Green Tara mantra. Sometimes it was Shreepad Shrivallabh for career growth and sometimes Archangel Michael for protection. This inner knowing was always there and this I completely attribute to the presence of my Guru Shri Swami Samartha. The day he held my hand, my spiritual journey has advanced to a higher level and I can actually see the difference he has made in heightening my consciousness. Again, when there was an inner urge towards purchasing Tarot cards and I first held the Raider Waite in my hands, I could feel an electric current like energy flowing from my hands to my entire being and I could actually understand the imagery on the cards and read them even without getting the required training. I never experienced that level of energy flowing inside with other decks as the connection was already established during the first encounter itself. I now have a collection of 30 different tarot and oracle decks. I never use them for predictions. Divination is what appeals to people. Because we always want to know ‘when’ and are not keen on the ‘how’. It takes efforts to understand why particular challenges emerge in our life? What blockage is there and can I do something to remove that blockage is the type of guidance I seek from tarot for myself and others. I use cards for making decisions and self -improvement, largely. It has become a medium through which angels and the Almighty communicate with me, when I need to know the ‘How’. With these modalities of healing, I heal myself and help others heal. I believe whoever is ought to receive guidance from me will cross my path and this belief alone has made me compassionate towards others.

How, from a being a doctor and medical teacher, I became a mental health advocate, a career counsellor, a life coach and a spiritual healer? The answer to this question I found in my dermatoglyphics report which I use for career counselling. It clearly mentions that my innate potential is coaching, counselling and spiritual healing. I got my test done years after I had already chosen this path. I was meant to be. But, I wonder, we didn’t had DMIT then and that if I had never asked myself the very first question-‘who I am I?’ Would I have reached so far? People still have ignorance with regards to innate potential and it pains me deeply to see students entering wrong profession or wasting important, productive years of their lives just for preparing entrance exams or government jobs. How can everyone become a surgeon or an IIT professional? Innate potential report tells us what type of learner we are, how we process information and what is our preferred way of expressing ourselves. It also gives a clear indication of the hobbies we should engage in and the career in which we can be successful. But, parents become emotional while making this crucial decision for their children’s life even though scientific methods are available. May be, it has become another business in the market, but, as far as I have known this simple test, it has more advantages than disadvantages. At the end of the day, it is just a tool of self-awareness. How we use it is what makes the difference. I remember a famous essay topic of my childhood in this context “television/technology: a boon or a bane?” I always used to write, “depends on the user”. Does it not hold true here? Choosing careers emotionally also happens for lack of knowledge and trust in the spiritual team which consists of Gods, Ascended masters, spirit guides, ancestors and even animal spirits. Guidance is always at hand but we fail to recognize and then sink into the trap of fear. I experience ultimate bliss when my students come to me and say ‘thank you mam for the opportunity.’ Opportunity is what many people lack in today’s world- first due to not knowing their innate potential and later fulfilling the world’s expectation and drowning in self-doubt when they cannot fulfil those. Asking ‘who am I?’ is the game changer.

This Doctor’s day, I felt like reflecting on my journey and sharing it with all hoping that it may help someone in some way. Today, after learning and practicing such modalities of healing I can envision myself with a stethoscope and beautiful wings on my back. I am really grateful to my parents and my husband who were supportive throughout my quest. Today I express my gratitude towards my Guru and my spiritual team for holding my hands and making the process of growing wings easier. I feel guided and blessed. I hope the same for my readers.

Dr. Namita Deshmukh

Professor, Community Medicine, BKLWRMC

Life Coach, Career Consultant and Tarot card Reader