For the moment, it’s a physical pain. A tendon “exploding” … moving to the pain of healing.
Last week I was in Charlotte for three days of meetings. The two most recent additions to my physical therapy regimen had to be set aside due to not having the gadgets I needed to follow through. I continued on though, with the initial, basic stretches I had first been given.
There have been moments where progress is evident. There have been others which prompted the thought I was going backwards. This past weekend was one of those “others.” Sleep elusive. Pain escalating.
Was the pain spelling troubles of a sort?
Perhaps, but I determined to move deeper into the more advanced exercises. Purposeful … in moments reminded of the “focus” exemplified in our friend the Magician.
A couple of nights ago seemed like a journey to the rocky floor of a valley. I awoke after 2 or 3 tumultuous hours of “rest” to a shoulder that spoke with a piercing tongue. With a rather imposing work project before me, I arose and spent the hours of the owl wading through computer files and paper.
When time came again for PT in those early morning hours, I entered in with even more focus … in a sense, trying to listen to the tendons and muscles. It certainly didn’t alleviate any pain, but I did it anyway … a second time later that day with the same purposeful approach. I wore those hours like a drenched sweatshirt and, as another opportunity for “rest” came that evening, I was ready.
Perhaps I was so whipped I would have slept through an avalanche, but I slept. And when I awoke, although the pain was present, it had taken a seat (vs. pacing the room with sporadic rants and raves).
As I moved into PT that morning, a thought came … of the piercing tongue of pain lashing me, eventually “drawing” me into it … drawing me deeper into the more advanced exercises. And I wondered if “it” could have been bidding me to do more? Could it be that pain, at times, is telling us we have to move into it to find the healing?
Whatever the explanation, it was changing its tone. It seems I broke through to a different plateau, serving as a reminder my body did indeed know what it was calling me toward … healing. As well, it served as a reminder to the other forms “pain” may take. However it manifests, one can certainly be tempted toward inactivity. Who wants to face pain? It is much easier to sidestep it … but I’m learning that when it calls, for the most part, the call is “come” … not “run.”
