Last weekend was not a good one. A flooded basement and a trip to Emergency Care all within 24 hours of one another. The basement flood was the result of a pretty violent storm on Friday night and as irony would have it, when it happened we were out for a relaxing massage to help soothe away our troubles and tensions...the effects of that particular massage had to be the shortest lived in my experience!
As for the hospital run, that was due to an incident involving our new super duper cheese knife, my lovely husband, some cheese and my right index finger. The result was extremely painful, very bloody and a cut not only to my finger and nail but to my nail bed too. The rest of the details really do not need to be shared but I have been pretty lame around the house this week. I continue to be amazed at how losing the use of just one finger can be potentially so limiting. I've been very lucky to have Alan around this week, that is for sure.
On the other hand though (no pun intended) I am trying to see it as a new learning curve rather than a limitation. I happen to be very right handed. I've discovered that I barely use my left hand alone because my right hand is so much better at everything! I soon realised that if I wanted to be able to do anything for myself this week that I would have to adapt my way of thinking..and doing. Change some patterns and expectations. Be open to doing things differently, more slowly and with care and much greater awareness. As it turns out, this was easier than I thought it might be, once I removed my own expectations of how things should be.
I do believe that things happen for a reason, as hard as that is to believe sometimes. It is always very easy to let yourself feel like the victim in a situation like this but that is never going to get us anywhere other than a state of self pity. And I've been there a few times this week when the pain was at it's peak. It didn't feel good. I think it actually made the pain worse. The mind is powerful and has such influence over our bodies. I'm sure that on the days I have been able to stay happy and positive, I have been less aware of my injury - both the pain and the inconvenience.
During some mindfulness practice this week while I was at one of my lowest points, I managed to catch myself...catch my (self-pitying) thoughts mid flow and I remembered a book I read last year... a wonderful, inspiring book called "Waking" by Matthew Sanford. I first encountered Matthew at the San Francisco Yoga Conference in 2009 where he was giving the Keynote Speech. His speech left me wanting more, so I had to buy the book. It took me a while, as usual, to get around to reading it but once I did start, I simply could not put it down. It's the story of his recovery from a near fatal accident in which one of his parents and a sibling died. It is one of those books that has stayed with me ever since and it was at this low point that the memory of it helped me breathe a little deeper and get things into perspective. My situation was unpleasant and painful both emotionally and physically but it was far from serious, in the scheme of things. Remembering parts of the book made me feel very humbled, and very grateful for life in general. It is so easy to get thrown off course by an unwelcome event in life but our ability to bounce back and get things into perspective and to be grateful for all the good stuff, is what it's all about.
Adapting to changing circumstances seems to be a familiar theme in my life lately but of course I'm not the only one. We all have our dramas, but when the only constant in life is change, how we respond to change is critical to our wellbeing and our state of mind.
I highly recommend you read Matthew's book.....
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