Why Healing Begins with Coherence and the Spark of Life

The Healing journey begins

Healing is often treated as a technical problem. Something is wrong, so something must be fixed. A symptom appears, and attention turns immediately to managing or eliminating it.

In this conversation with Dr. Joelle Samaha, founder of philolifewellbeing.com and the Let’s Get Real 2 Heal Podcast, healing is approached from a very different direction. Not as a fight against the body or a search for constant comfort, but as a process of restoring coherence and reconnecting with what she calls the spark of life. What shows up as anxiety, illness, or emotional imbalance is often a sign that something essential has been lost long before the symptom appeared.

This reframing invites a quieter, more demanding question: what if healing does not start with control, but with reconnection?

Healing Is About Coherence, Not Control

One of the clearest threads running through Joelle’s message is that healing cannot occur without coherence, an alignment between values, emotions, and actions.

“There is no healing possible unless there is coherence, alignment with values, with cause, with actions.”

Dr. Joelle Samaha, Via Stoica Podcast (11:30)

When this coherence is missing for long periods, the body adapts. Emotions are suppressed, roles are performed, and expectations are carried until something eventually breaks the surface. In Joelle’s view, illness is not an enemy to be defeated, but a signal pointing to a deeper misalignment.

Rather than asking how to silence symptoms, healing asks how we have learned to live out of sync with ourselves.

Emotions as Signals, Not Problems

Joelle repeatedly returns to the role of emotions in the healing process. Rather than classifying them as positive or negative, she describes emotions as meaningful signals that ask to be understood.

“All emotions exist to communicate a reason or a message.”

Dr. Joelle Samaha, Via Stoica Podcast (47:18)

The difficulty arises when emotions are stored, ignored, or normalized without reflection. Over time, they stop being felt clearly and instead manifest as tension, fatigue, or physical symptoms. Healing, then, is not about emotional release alone, but about listening closely to what those emotions are pointing toward.

This requires patience and honesty, not urgency. It also requires creating space to reflect, something increasingly rare in modern life.

Loss, Mortality, and the Spark of Life

Joelle’s understanding of healing is deeply shaped by personal loss, particularly the death of her father. His final words became a turning point in how she understood life, urgency, and meaning.

“The last thing my father said was, ‘Life is beautiful. I wish I knew it earlier.’”

Dr. Joelle Samaha, Via Stoica Podcast (21:17)

This moment confronted her with a painful insight: many people postpone life itself. Peace, rest, and meaning are treated as rewards that arrive later, rather than experiences available now.

From this realization emerged what Joelle calls the spark of life. Not a constant state of happiness, but moments of presence, vitality, and awareness that can appear even in grief, fear, or uncertainty. Healing, in this sense, is not waiting for life to improve, but learning to meet it fully as it is.

Why Modern Self-Care Often Misses the Point

Another theme Joelle challenges is the modern idea of self-care. Healing is often framed as something private, efficient, and individual, disconnected from relationships and context.

Yet disconnection, not stress alone, is often the deeper problem. People are constantly busy, informed, and stimulated, yet increasingly cut off from themselves and from others. Healing requires space, reflection, and sometimes shared inquiry, not isolation.

Reconnecting with the spark of life often happens in moments of honesty, stillness, and human connection, not optimization.

Healing as a Return, Not an Achievement

Joelle does not describe healing as a final destination or a permanent state. It is not about becoming immune to anxiety, loss, or difficulty.

It is about learning to notice when coherence is lost, listening to what the body and emotions are expressing, and making adjustments in how one lives. Healing is a return, again and again, to alignment.

The spark of life is not something to be chased. It is something to be remembered.

Conclusion

Healing, as Joelle presents it, is not about fixing what is broken, but about restoring relationships with oneself, with others, and with life as it unfolds. Coherence is not perfection, but honesty. The spark of life is not constant joy, but presence.

When we stop treating symptoms in isolation and begin listening to what they reveal, healing becomes possible, not as control, but as reconnection.

“There is nothing called, ‘I’m never going to feel anything negative.’ It comes, but it’s more about knowing how to deal with it. It’s life.”

Dr. Joelle Samaha, Via Stoica Podcast (56:02)

You can watch the full conversation with Dr. Joelle Samaha on the Via Stoica YouTube channel.

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Book a free consultation with one of our Stoic Coaches. You can also listen to the Via Stoica podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or watch it on YouTube.

Guest Bio

Dr. Joelle Samaha is a philosopher-practitioner, wellbeing coach, and founder of PhiloLife, where she works at the intersection of philosophy, emotion, and embodied health. With a PhD in philosophy of health and wellbeing and over fifteen years of teaching and coaching experience, she helps people restore coherence between values, emotions, and lived experience, reconnecting with what she calls the spark of life. She is also the host of the Let’s Get Real to Heal podcast. Learn more at Philolifewellbeing.com or connect via Instagram (@letsgetreal2heal, @philolifewellbeing).

Author Bio

Benny Voncken is the co-founder of Via Stoica, where he helps people apply Stoic philosophy to modern life. He is a Stoic coach, writer, and host of The Via Stoica Podcast. With almost a decade of teaching experience and daily Stoic practice, Benny creates resources, workshops, and reflections that make ancient wisdom practical today.