Let's close our eyes.
We all go through pain or sickness very regularly and a knee jerk reaction or maybe a standard operating procedure for us is to get rid of the sickness or pain ASAP.
The longer it stays,
Even if it is a headache or seasoned transitional fever,
It's a nuisance.
We can't live our lives the way we want to.
Our energy level is down,
So the first thing we resort to is it to be treated like a nuisance and then do everything necessary to get rid of it.
At this point,
A question may come up as to what's wrong in it.
Why is this wrong?
I'm not trying to say what's right,
What's wrong,
What needs to be changed.
I'm just trying to explore something as deep and as wide as we can,
Staying within the bounds of this experiment.
The assumption when we treat something as a nuisance is that it doesn't belong where it is right now.
It has been put there from the outside.
The pain or sickness has been inflicted onto us in some way and we need to drive these things out as forcefully,
Sometimes violently,
So that we can go back to quote-unquote normal.
But is this really an outside phenomena or is it something innate and natural to us,
To our body?
The mechanisms of pain and sickness are a part of the natural body evolution.
Even when a child is growing up and she has teething pains,
We understand how painful it is,
But we also understand that it's not a nuisance.
It is a part of the process of growing up.
Not once have I seen anyone try to get rid of the teething pains.
There are ways that a mother tries to mitigate it,
But at the core we all know it's okay.
It's only a matter of time.
So we don't spend our energy driving the pain out forcefully,
Violently.
But actually we cooperate with it so that whatever it is trying to do,
In this case teething,
The job is accomplished and the pain goes away on its own.
When as young,
When being young we scratched ourselves,
Fell down.
Once the wound was clean,
All we had to do was cooperate with its healing by getting out of the way of the healing process.
And even when we had our first heartbreak,
As much as it was painful,
There was no violent or a forceful way to get rid of it,
Fix it.
But instead we stayed with it,
Probably listening to some songs,
Eating ice cream.
And then at some point of time the pain went away on its own.
But at some point of time,
We were able to get rid of it.
But at some point of time,
Somehow,
We all learnt that pain is unnecessary.
We need to pop pills,
Think of it as a nuisance and just be done with it.
Even if it is a simple paper cut,
It is a nuisance,
A headache is definitely a nuisance,
Fogginess is definitely a loud cry for coffee.
Or the other side of it is chronic pain that we get used to.
It becomes a part of white noise in our life and we neglect it unless the pain increases in its threshold and then we do something to subside.
I am not a doctor and whatever I have to say has nothing to do with medical field.
But I would like to put another perspective across.
What if it wasn't a nuisance?
What if we didn't have to be violent and aggressive against it?
What if we needed to be like our mothers,
Giving love and care when we are sick or in pain?
But somehow,
Our minds have been programmed to override what our bodies need.
I heard my teacher say the other day that the body has its own innate intelligence but the mind is stupid.
At some level,
I didn't need any explanation for these words to hit my heart.
Just that construction of the sentence was enough.
That our bodies are smart but our minds are stupid.
All pain is a cry for help.
All sickness is a cry for rest.
What if we didn't override the body's innate intelligence with our stupid demands,
With the stupid demands of the mind?
There's never a good time to be in pain or be sick.
Just like there's never a good time to get a flat tire.
And things happen.
And somehow,
Our first instinct is to fight with what is happening or to fight with what has happened.
You can try but we all know what happens when we fight with something that has happened or is already happening.
But what if instead,
We listened to the pain,
We listened to the sickness without holding a baseball bat in our hands,
Trying to kick it out.
The pain and sickness are not outside of us.
For all practical purposes,
They are us within us.
So when we are fighting,
Being aggressive,
Being violent,
Forceful,
We're hurting ourselves more,
Especially when we are in pain and sickness.
So when we are fighting,
We are in pain and sickness.
We are in pain and sickness.
We are in pain and sickness.
We should seek a doctor whenever we need to,
Definitely,
Or medication whenever we are asked to.
But what if we flipped our attitude towards this from being a nuisance to being a part of us?
Maybe it will make a difference,
Maybe it won't.
I can't think of any situation where love cannot be an answer.
It might not be the answer,
But it can definitely be an answer.
Kindness can be an answer,
Especially towards ourselves.
I wish you all the health in life.
Thank you.
