Fire cools.
Water seeks its own level.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations (Deng, Ming-Dao)
The above quote is a nice reminder to us that nature balances itself out. After the rain, the earth and the sun soak up the rain-water but after a wild fire, nature takes longer to recover and flourish once more. So too with our own health. We do not stop to think of the natural balancing elements of healing taking place when we cut ourselves. We rarely acknowledge or appreciate the complexity of the unseen healing processes taking place beneath the surface of our skin. From minor scrapes and bruises to the task of recovering from an illness that has stopped our life in its everyday routine, the amount of healing needed will require varying degrees of patience, love and perseverance both from ourselves and those close to us. To those of you who are coping with a long-term illness, to those of you who feel trapped in a maze of ‘illness’ trying to find their way out, to those of you caught in the stop-start phases of healing, and to those of you standing on the sideline offering words of encouragement, the following are some additional words of encouragement that I hope may be of help.
The Dance of Recovery:
Keep yourself from being disheartened by remembering that recovery can be a dance where there can be a mixture of moving forward as well as stepping back or sideways. So long as your overall recovery is progressing take heart that you are heading in the right direction.
Change the Story:
Constantly repeating the story of your health crash keeps you trapped in the mindset of illness, symptoms and your various problems. By consciously choosing to change the story you can help yourself stay focused on your recovery path. Ditch the past stories of what happened, it is bad enough that it happened once without reliving it over and over again by repeating the story in your head. Take your life on a moment by moment basis, losing judgements, celebrating every moment of life, loving yourself and creating a better you.
Focus on Solutions:
It is very easy when you are not well for all your focus, time and energy to be taken up with treatment, symptoms, medical appointments and wondering how this is all going to work out and even dare I say ‘dooms day scenarios’. What I would like to encourage you to do is as often as possible during the day switch your attention to activities that make you laugh, feel at peace, give you comfort and bring enjoyment back into your life. This can be done even if you are confined to a bed or chair through any number of activities such as watching comedies, reading or listening to a book, contemplating the clouds passing by, admiring flowers, chatting to family and friends with a no bad news or medical talk rule, playing with small children, getting outdoors to nature, walking in the woods, re-examining your spiritual beliefs, having a cuddle or a hug with a loved one, taking up a project that you always wanted to do, the possibilities are endless. Living life moment by moment and actively seeking to make as many of these moments happy may have a greater influence on empowering yourself towards creative solutions, wellness and healing that you have thought possible.
During Bad Moments Stay Present:
Ditch ‘all or nothing’ thinking when you hit the bumps on the road to recovery. Listen to yourself and notice if you are projecting symptoms into doom and gloom future scenarios. Bring yourself back to the present moment and mindfully remind yourself that you create your own future with your thoughts. Focus on your breathing or admire nature as a means of re-establishing presence.
Wishing you health and happiness
Moya