Love and Peace Will Always be Intertwined

     In my last post I told you about the story of a small child, his family, and what seemed to be a mountain of grief that was heaped on them to include not only his battle with leukemia, but also the loss of his grandfather.  In the week that followed my hearing of this story, I continued to wonder why one family would experience such events in a short span of time.  I realized that this situation is not unique to just them, but happens every day in this large, yet seemingly small world of ours.  Still I perseverated on this issue, and as usual the universe spoke back to me loud and clear.

     I watch the television show Chicago Fire, and in the latest installment titled Forgiving, Relentless, Unconditional I found my answer.  The story line revolved around the death of a small child (in a fire) which was caused by the negligence of his own father.  At the end of this episode the fictitious CFD chaplain named Father Orlovsky delivered this eloquent eulogy, and hence the answer to the question I pondered about for days:

“I want to talk to you today about a subject that touches every one of us, loss.  Sometimes we are faced with things we think we just can’t handle- the death of a loved one, a father, a child, and we strive to find the reason behind it all.

 And when those reasons don’t make sense- It’s me.  We question God.  We look up and we say: “God, how could you do this to us?  How can you put so much on our plate?”  But we are not operating on God’s timetable are we?  We don’t understand God’s plan, how can we?  And let me tell you, this is where faith comes in.

Faith can help us see His message in our own lives.  Perhaps this loss is there to teach us not to take the ones we love for granted; to cherish the simple, mundane moments; to love others as fiercely, and as bravely, and as compassionately as we can.

And in that love, human love: forgiving, relentless, unconditional love, you’ll find peace.”

In Health and Wellness,

Tim

A Most Important Lesson About Life: It’s Precious

During my visit last week to see Erin for acupuncture, we discussed the physical, mental, and emotional aspects with regard to my illness.  I told her that on the first day, I felt a “fire” brewing in my belly as I thought about how I contracted the flu.  If I did not mention this in my last post, I picked it up from someone at work who laughed when I “thanked” him for sharing the gift that keeps on giving.  I then related to Erin how I used the MBSR body scan to induce a deep relaxation response that (in combination with Nutrition Response Testing) helped me turn the corner in a couple of days.  It still amazes me how the body has the innate ability to heal itself if we give it a chance.

     Next, we talked about how I stand on a very narrow ledge between where I am now, and jumping back into the roller coaster of emotional outbursts that I had been accustomed to in my struggle with PTSD.  Erin reminded me that it’s good to have this ledge as a constant reminder that my healing will be a lifetime process.  It keeps one from developing a superman syndrome that has become synonymous with life as a public servant.  Our discussion then moved on to a story about a friend of hers who did her own soul-searching in the wake of a couple of obstacles that life had thrown her way.  Here, my friends is where we learn a most important lesson about life.

     Erin’s friend (who is an attorney by trade), has a toddler son who is currently being treated with rounds of chemotherapy for leukemia.  His mother is on a leave of absence from work to take care of her son, as well as two other children.  One day, in the recent past, this young boy’s grandfather paid a visit to see his grandson and had given him a hug.  Sometime thereafter, he passed away.  Erin told me that her friend began to question why life was heaping such grief upon her family at such a critical time.  Did she show great resolve in overcoming her struggles?  The answer to this question is resounding yes.    Erin related that on the day of the funeral, this woman eloquently delivered the closing argument (eulogy) about her father’s life. At this time the family is taking life as it unfolds before them.

        After hearing this story, I can truly say that I know what the phrase “life is precious” means.  Here was I, bemoaning my fate that someone passed on a short-lived illness to me, so what.  In the comparative grand scheme of things that was no reason to become angry.  We are given only a certain number of breaths in this lifetime, and do not know when they will come to an end.  We are not guaranteed the next minute, hour, day, week, month, year, decade, and so on.  That’s why we need to live in the moment-by the moment, and enjoy all that life has to offer.  I am certain that Erin’s friend and her family are doing just that.

     I recently took up the practice of Kundalini Yoga which I will tell you about in a future post.  We end each practice with the Long Time Sun song which is repeated three times in conjunction with a prayer that the student projects as follows:

·         One for yourself, to self-bless.

·         One for someone you know who needs it.

·         One for World peace.

I promised Erin that from now until this young boy heals, I would project this second prayer on his behalf.  You will find the Long Time Sun song (which repeats three times) in the following YouTube video.  When the verse repeats for the second time, and if you feel so inclined, please join me in projecting a healing prayer on his behalf.  It is not important that you know his name (I will take care of that), just know that he exists and needs our healing energy.

 

 

In health and wellness,

 

Tim

Life is My Teacher

     Last week, something happened to me that I had not experienced in over 10 years: I was stricken with the flu.  Over the course of this past week, my mind wandered aimlessly attempting to figure out why such a rare occurrence chose to rear its ugly head.  The more I pondered the question and focused on this illness, the worse I felt.  At some point during the second day of commiseration, the little voice inside my head told me that this would be a teachable moment in my life.  In other words, my moment of interoception had finally arrived.

     Interoception, also known as an internal sense, is something that is stimulated from within the body, such as hunger.  I found a definition on the website The Free Dictionary which best captured the essence of my moment: “sensitivity to stimuli originating inside of the body”.  During this past week, I actually felt the innate healing powers of my body through a conscious awareness of the relaxation response.  Let me show you what I mean.

     For years I have studied the effects of both the stress/relaxation responses and their connection to both acute and chronic disease, as well as recovery from the same (see previous posts titled “Stress, Our Foe” and “Relaxation: Hard to do . . . Necessary for Life”).   My recovery began on the second day of this bout when I utilized a new tool that I recently added to my holistic tool box:  the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) body scan.  A few weeks ago, I told you that I was going to begin the MBSR course as a way to increase the awareness of my life on a moment by moment basis.  As I become consciously aware of how stress affects me, the better I am able to manage it.  So how does the body scan work?

     The body scan, through a series of guided meditations, asks the practitioner (me) to experience how the body feels in the here and now of this practice.  As I lie on my back with my eyes closed, a facilitator guides me region by region starting with the left big toe.   In a systematic manner, we work our way through the lower, middle, and upper portions of the body respectively.  I am told that if the mind drifts, acknowledge the thoughts without judgment, and then bring my attention back to the area of the body with which I am currently engaged.  By the end of this 55 minute session, any aches and pains I carry seem to melt away without a care.

     The amazing part of this healing process is that the very act of attending to the here and now actually gives the mind a job to do, which is all it ever really wants from us.  Rather than living with chaotic thoughts, I was able to quiet the mind and allow the natural healing process to take its course.  After completing this scan, I could actually feel my internal energy working towards homeostasis (balance) as a result of being in a total state of relaxation. This begs the question:  What was my teachable moment?

     The important lesson learned is reflective of the healing as I experienced it.  Remember, a basic tenet of holism views each person as an individual with respect to what protocol he/she responds because there is not a one size fits all category.  It was destiny that brought me to this exact moment in time to teach me that the mind and body are interdependent, rather than independent entities.  Therefore, they do not work separately from each other as one might think.  I believe that a healthy mind can orchestrate a healthy body.  I will leave you, my readers to be the judge of this statement through further exploration into the world of MBSR or similar stress reduction programs.

 

     As a footnote, I leave you with a quote from Eric Allen:

"Everyone is my teacher.  Some I seek.  Some I subconsciously attract.  Often I learn simply by observing others.  Some may be completely unaware that I'm learning from them, yet I bow deeply in gratitude."

Life is my Teacher J

 

References

Meleo-Meyer, F. & Santorelli, S. The MBSR Online Course: An 8-Week Training in Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.  Retrieved from http://www.soundstrue.com/store/the-mbsr-online-course-3226.html on 2/3/2015.

 

TheFreeDictionary.com (2015).  Interoception.  Retrieved from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/interoception on 3/1/2015.