Hi, healers! Life lessons, they are everywhere, usually found in the more difficult circumstances we encounter, but also present in times of peace and joy. I tend to learn my life lessons the difficult way, and I’m practicing insight and self-awareness so that I may begin to learn in a kinder, gentler fashion. Although I’ve made tremendous strides, leaps and bounds even, in my life lately concerning health and wellness, trust me, I don’t always get it right the first time. In fact, it may take several times being presented with the same lesson for me to fully catch on and begin to make the changes that are necessary for greater balance and wholeness.
So what was the big lesson this back injury taught me? I haven’t quite found balance in terms of my physical self, particularly when it comes to pain and discomfort and pushing past limits. I’ve become an expert at listening to my hunger signals, cravings, energy levels, emotional ups and downs, intuition when decision making, etc., but I have no idea how to listen to my own pain signals. It does not come naturally to me. Part of this is because I currently have (and have had for seven years) and condition in which my pain signals are constantly misfiring, assuming an injury exists when it does not, so ignoring and pushing through pain has become as natural to me as my heart beat (a sad but true statement). Part of this has to do with the fact that I have an incredibly high pain tolerance, much of which I attribute to years of pushing myself in the sports arena. No pain, no gain, right? Wrong. And the last piece of this is that I still don’t respect my physical limits because of the two abovementioned reasons and others not mentioned.
So where do I go from here? Nowhere. For once, I go nowhere. I’m going to start low and slow while I learn to decipher between a misfiring nervous system and pain that signals something is truly wrong, and I'm also going to be OK with that. Slowly but surely, I will learn. Life will have it no other way, and if I want to live well, I better be a decent student.
Happy Healing!
2 comments:
I can relate to this... last summer I sprained my ankle and had to consciously remind myself to put it up and rest because I don't take the pain signals seriously anymore... also didn't notice I had a kidney infection until I was passing out and vomiting... oh RSD :)
Glad to hear I'm not alone. Thanks so much for sharing that!
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