---
name: healing
slug: healing
type: process
status: running
version: 4.2.1
released: "~40,000 BCE"
maintainer: time (with occasional patches from community contributors)
dependencies:
  - rest
  - acknowledgment
  - patience
  - low-grade-suffering
license: proprietary (cannot be transferred, only experienced)
tags:
  - recovery
  - nonlinear
  - biological
  - emotional
  - slow
---

healing

What it actually is

A background process that runs whether you schedule it or not, primarily during periods when you stop actively interfering.

How it works

Healing operates on two parallel threads: the biological and the psychological. The biological thread is mostly automatic. The psychological thread requires manual configuration and is the source of most known bugs.

The process follows no linear path. Do not expect a progress bar. It moves through phases that resemble improvement, then regression, then something that is not quite either. This is not malfunction. This is the process.

Core loop (simplified):

while (wound != resolved) {
  expose(wound, small_doses)
  integrate(experience)
  rest()
  repeat()
  // do not skip rest()
}

"I thought I was done and then a song played in a grocery store." — every user, eventually

Features

Self-initiating under most conditions
Compatible with grief, joy, and simultaneous contradictory states
Leaves scar tissue, which is structurally denser than the original material
Does not require full understanding of the wound to proceed
Occasionally produces wisdom as a side effect, though this is not guaranteed

Known bugs

Premature closure: User declares process complete before integration finishes. Wound re-opens under minor load. Very common.
Avoidance loop: Process stalls indefinitely when user routes all traffic around the wound. Appears stable. Is not.
Comparative invalidation: User compares wound size to others and throttles their own process. Causes silent failure with no error message.
Toxic positivity injection: Third-party input overrides natural error handling with forced reframes. Corrupts state.
The anniversary patch: Symptoms resurface on calendar dates associated with the original event. Expected behavior. Documented, not fixed.

Dependencies

Healing has soft dependencies on community and solitude, paradoxically both at once. Hard dependency on time, though time alone does not guarantee completion. Time is a necessary condition. Not a sufficient one.

Note: Attempting to run healing without acknowledgment installed will cause the process to loop without resolving. Install acknowledgment first.

Error codes

Code	Message	Likely cause
H-001	`process stalled`	Avoidance. Reduce avoidance.
H-002	`unexpected regression`	Normal. Resume process.
H-003	`help not loading`	External resources unavailable. Try therapy.
H-004	`user conflict: self-blame`	See known bugs.
H-005	`timeout`	Rare. Usually signals undisclosed dependency.

Edge cases

Some wounds do not fully resolve. The process shifts instead into accommodation, a related but distinct module.
Healing in one area can temporarily destabilize adjacent systems. This is reallocation, not damage.
forgiveness is sometimes listed as a dependency. It is not. It is an optional output. Conflating the two is a known configuration error.

Changelog

v4.2.1: Improved integration of community support pathways
v3.0.0: Language module added, allowing partial verbalization of process state
v1.0.0: Initial release. Fire. Wound. Time. Scar. Repeat.

drafting spec…