Use 2 Superpowers to Reduce Your Body Suffering — Acceptance and Gratitude
Your resistance to the situation is delaying your healing.
Nobody likes pain. We all run away from it. We want to be in action always. The thought of pain and confinement to bed scares us. Because of this, the health industry is booming.
Still, diseases catch up with us.
The lethargy, discomfort, and pain associated with diseases become the enemy. Medications work, but you feel sick from within. You want to get out of bed as soon as possible. But the body does not allow it. This becomes a battle-like situation between body and mind.
Last week I suffered from 3rd spasm in my lower back. It took away my mobility for a few days. Excruciating pain bestowed on my body.
Each muscle and ligament screamed for rest. My eyes cried with pain as I took even a single turn in my bed.
After 2 days of medications, I could walk with some support. I am still on medicines, but the pain is still by my side. Thankfully, my body became mobile.
Pain happens, and it passes too. The agonizing body suffering tested my acceptance of the pain. I cried when it became intense, and I was at rest when it disappeared.
But not a single thought arose: why is it happening.
Pain Is a Friend — It Wakes You From a Deep Slumber
Either physical or mental, pain always points out to the dis-ease within. Body pain forces you to look and do something about it. But mental suffering hides. You sweep it in the dark corners of the mind.
Pain is a friend. It shows where healing is most urgently required. But most curses it.
This physical pain jerked me from my sleep of carelessness towards my body. But the absence of mental pain showed the acceptance of the situation, no matter how painful it was.
My body is not adapted to the excess of physical work that led to the first two spasms. So when I ignored them and continued with my support work at home, it gave me a gift of 3rd crippling spasm.
This pain is not to make you sad, remember. That’s where people go on missing. This pain is just to make you more alert–because people become alert only when the arrow goes deep into their heart and wounds them. — Osho
Listen to the Intelligent Body — It Never Lies
Being focused on the external world, it becomes easy to overlook the body. The body gives minor distress signals. But the majority neglect it conveniently.
Dr. William, MD, confirms our bodies can heal and repair themselves. Our DNA undergoes 60,000 mutations every day. DNA protection is critical, and it fixes itself.
The body is intelligent to heal by itself. A little support from you goes a long way if you identify the early signs. Long-term ignorance leads to full-blown disease.
The question is, when do you shift the focus from outside to the health? The awareness of the body and its needs leads to a healthy life.
The human body is a river of intelligence, energy, and information that is constantly renewing itself in every second of its existence. — Deepak Chopra
Acceptance of the Current Pain Helps You Move Forward Towards Healing if You Know How To Act
The present situation might stink. Pain may be unbearable. Immobility may be distressing.
But constantly questioning and cursing the body leads you into the trap of more suffering. The body does not want you to suffer. You suffer because of the resistance towards your disability, pain, or disease.
If you accept any condition, it stops bothering you. The physical pain may arise, but when it goes away, you come back to light-heartedness.
Acceptance of pain is not easy. The long-standing patterns can not dissolve in a day. But it is possible.
It depends on your driving force to come out of suffering.
The change is always painful. To remain in the old patterns seems safe because you have been there and know what to expect.
But accepting the pain and suffering is new and scary. Many questions arise. Resistance comes up. The mind plays against it. It will come up with a variety of reasons not to accept any situation.
But acceptance of disturbing things dissolves your suffering. It can be any physical or emotional pain.
The suffering itself is not so bad, it is the resentment against the suffering that is the real pain. — Allen Ginsberg
Be Mindful of the Millennial Disease — Stress
Physical and mental health go hand in hand.
American Psychological Association has mentioned innumerable effects of stress on health. It leads to erratic food habits, lack of sleep, decreased immune system, and depression.
Keeping stress in check has become mainstream in being healthy. The Harvard School of Public Health has given specific tips to help control stress:
- Regular exercises
- Healthy Diet and mindful eating
- Mental health counseling and other support groups
- Meditation
- Practicing work-life balance
- Good sleep hygiene
- Schedule fun hobbies and activities at least once per week
Relieve stress by releasing the control. Do your best and let the rest reveal itself. Keep a light-hearted living. Laughter helps to have a wholesome life and keeps you away from stress.
Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it. — Kahlil Gibran
Be Compassionate and Thankful Towards Your Body, Heart, And Life
Whenever I am ill, I thank my body and its parts. This time I had a heart-to-heart communication with my back.
I immediately understood what went wrong. I promised I’d do better. I profusely thanked it for its service and hugged it mentally. I communicated my love towards it.
A smile arose from within.
The body is wise. It always protects from impending doom. You are digging a grave if you are constantly ungrateful towards the body.
Aspen Brain Institute study proves gratitude increases grey matter in the brain. It shows how thankfulness acts as a natural antidepressant. Mindfulness Awareness Centre at UCLA also proves gratitude changes neural pathways. It leads you to a healthy and happy life.
Gratitude syncs the outer and inner energies. Express gratitude to your body more often than you think. Be thankful to the body for the weight it carries, food it digests, mobility, laughter, and for everything.
Your body supports you. In turn, you also strengthen the body with your compassion and gratitude. Just because one function is not working perfectly, you spiral down in criticizing the whole body.
Pain may coax you to shift to blame game. But remember the 2003 scientific study, Counting Blessings and Burdens. It showed that 16% of patients who kept a gratitude journal showed a decrease in pain. They became more cooperative with the treatment possibilities. Researchers also found out that gratitude regulates the level of dopamine. It filled patients with more vitality and reduced the subjective feeling of pain.
Look at your patterns and improve them by not just exercise and food but also by your gratitude. Connect and communicate with each cell through your heart.
Treat your body like a tiny baby and genuinely praise it. Support it with your kind words and love.
Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings. — William Arthur Ward
Takeaways
Stop cursing the body if you want to regain health. Your resistance is an obstruction towards your healing. In life, pain reflects the area that needs your immediate focus and love. It is not an enemy but a friend.
The physical body and thoughts are brothers in arms. If one is affected, the other goes downhill too. Yet, you can use it counter-wise to enhance your health.
Gratitude and compassion towards self go a long way. Take care of yourself as a baby. Be kind and respectful of your boundaries. Accept your limitations and pain.
When you acknowledge and deeply understand your suffering, it starts to fade. Pain may remain, but suffering associated with the pain will dissolve.
If you are not in a state of either excitement, enjoyment or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others. — Eckhart Tolle
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