Wednesday, April 23, 2014

My Gentle Loving Care

My Gentle Loving Care

This morning I drew the Why am I healthy? card. I have heard from a bunch of you that, because you have a chronic something, this card is upsetting. So let’s talk about stuff.

I had extreme chronic discomfort for decades, from my teens into my 40s. I was frequently bed-ridden for days, which was awful when I lived alone. I lived on aspirin and prescriptions, and when ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine hydrochloride came out on the market I thought I’d gone to heaven. I was thrown by a car when I was in my mid 40s, and the western docs told me that I would be walking with a walker by the time I was 50 and likely in a chair at 55.

I was diagnosed by a very fancy shrink with a couple nasty and incurable mental illnesses when I was 27.

I’m not walking with a walker, I’m dancing with delight. I have mental health. I have joy and delight. I have satisfying relationships, and a lovely life. I have stuff, but it’s all manageable. I love my life.

For me, a lot of my physical stuff fell away as I cleaned up my mental stuff.

My basic rules of physical well being go like this.

If it’s not true for everyone, there are loopholes. I just need to find them.

Once I find a healer whom I find trustworthy, do what they say, and tell them every single relevant thing.

Branch out; healing modalities can be hugely complementary. I have used with good results at various times, in addition to western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine both herbal and acupuncture, chiropractic, reiki, shiatsu, western herbal medicine, homeopathy, flower essence, aromatherapy, color therapy, craniosacral work, hypnosis, and who knows what all else.

Accept and respect my current situation. Allow for room to improve.

My words and thoughts have a huge impact on how I feel. Pain language makes everything much worse. Neutral language makes things better.

Be kind to myself. No beating up, no name calling, no blaming. It is what it is. What are my lessons to be learned from it today?

What kind of help can I accept? How can I get the help I need? Why am I grateful?

How am I strong? How am I healthy? What makes me feel alive? How can I be healthy in my current experience?

Oh ho! What do you think about that last question? It’s not a contradiction. I have many ways to be healthy; body, emotions, mind, spirit.

It has been my experience more times than I can count that my physical experience changes with my thoughts. Finding the right body metaphor, and the right Creative Question has cause serious discomfort to literally disappear in an instant.

I am in a transitional phase right now, things are changing all around me, through me. It has been my experience that going through these phases creates a lot of body experience. Why do I listen to my body’s messages?

How have I changed from feeling physically doomed to respecting my physical experience?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2014 all rights reserved 04232014

Why would I love and respect my body? That's a good one for a lot of us, for a lot of reasons.

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