Many years ago, I asked, begged for healing. When I was not even thinking about this need, a word spoke in my soul, “I will heal you.” Just that, nothing more.

Right after that, things started moving, changing, shifting, sometimes hurting before improving. I watched things resolve as well as dissolve, but all was for this higher purpose of healing what most needed healing in me, even if the order of importance was not the one I would have chosen myself.

I thought I had asked for a destination, but I now realize I had begged for the journey. I got it. I am still on it.

And I am grateful.

Although it is hard, pain carries many lessons in its wake, lessons we cannot learn without the presence of pain because pain gets our attention even when nothing else will.

Pain has taught me many things and moved me to a new place in my life, out of the old system and, as I heal, further and further into a way of life that suits me more, a path of healing and peace.

Pain has also helped me learn who was there for me in my pain, and who sought to take advantage, thus pain helped me make some painful but crucial changes in my life and who gets to be in it. That sounds harsh, but often our physical pain is connected to other pain as well, and the barbs of it remind us to consider carefully what and who we allow and deny access to us.

Pain has taught me better priorities, that I was attempting to do too much for too long for others without ever considering the toll it was taking on me. Thus, pain has helped me learn to say the blessed and life-giving word, NO.

Pain also helps us develop compassion we might not have had another way, both for others and for ourselves (as Ben mentioned in his post). We so often speak to ourselves in ways we would not dream of addressing another, playing the stern unforgiving inner parent to force ourselves through pain or suffering, but sometimes what we need most is to take our inner selves aside and lovingly ask, “You are hurting. What do you need right now?”

Pain, and the immobility that came with it for awhile, taught me to see even more the intricate, incandescent beauty of life in and around me. When all I could do was sit and watch, I saw the hummingbirds dipping and swooping through the hanging baskets, the play of light through the white pines, and noticed the caress of a warm breeze.

Although I dearly hope the treatments I have been undergoing will be successful and the pain a memory after all these years, I am also grateful for the gifts that have come with the pain.

Thank you. I am touched. 🙂

I try to think of developing self-care and self-compassion along the lines of what they tell you on airplanes. In the event of an emergency, only after you have put the little oxygen giving mask over your face can you possibly help anyone else with theirs. This has been hard for me — I’ve spent much of my life attempting to live “without oxygen,” so to speak. I am learning, gradually, that I do not help myself or anyone else when I am in that mode and that gentler really does get us further faster! 😀

Many blessings.

Ah, yes…we have a fifteen and a half year old much loved Springer Spaniel here. It is so hard to watch her age, but she, too, is still enjoying her life at the level she can live it. So long as that is true, we will clean up the messes and walk beside her to the end.

And every time I think that crazy dog is just about near the end, she does something to show she’s still got it. Yesterday it was snarling and barking at our largest and youngest dog when he dared try to drink out of the water bowl at the same time as her. He weighs over twice as much as she does and is about 13 1/2 years younger! The Queen had her way, though, and he stood like a fuzzy statue until she was done!

It might be wise to get the ticks you remove tested, for peace of mind. If caught early, Lyme is more easily treated for many people. And if you see a bullseye rash or develop sudden flu symptoms after a bite, RUN to your nearest doctor and insist that you be treated with the appropriate length and type of antibiotic. A good many people never get the telltale rash (I didn’t), but if you see it, that’s a big indicator.

As for prevention, we like arbico-organics beneficial nematodes for control of fleas, ticks and other nasties. They are organic, non-toxic, and once they form a colony, they take care of the problem at the larval stage. We rarely have issues because we spray the beneficial nematodes on the yard and gardens where we or the dogs go. Oh, and also the chicken run. 😉

Oh, Ben, I know that pain! I am healing from Lyme, too, that went undiagnosed for about 25 years. And acupuncture is part of my healing protocol, too. I don’t know what I would do without my acupuncturist — she is who first diagnosed me, which was backed up by the lab work. I am also working with a Lyme herbalist, and slowly but surely, I am healing.

The pain has been slower to resolve than other aspects but is finally at a manageable level for the most part. I have my sights on having it gone, though, and I am currently undergoing a scalp acupuncture treatment taught by Dr. Jason Hao and Dr. Linda Hao in their book. They were sought out by Walter Reed Army Hospital to help veterans with pain issues, neuro issues, paralysis, and PTSD, and have had good success. I contacted them and Dr. Hao told me that he has had good success with Lyme as well, so we decided to try it. The technique helps the neuro pain damage from the Lyme resolve as well as the PTSD I have had for years.

I agree with you that it is a gift to be able to learn to hold your pain with love. We so often run from it because it HURTS! There are many gifts though, even in the midst of pain.

Wishing you many blessings and much healing in body and spirit.

This is a long road, but it is also one that has been a teacher of deep things to me such that I do not label the Lyme as “bad,” although it is very difficult at times.