Well, this is my first attempt at a blog, so be gentle! I just want a place to share my journey and hopefully hear how others relate.
So this is me...I'm a massage therapist, and like many massage therapists, I wanted to do this type of work because of the chronic pain I have dealt with in my life. I have scoliosis, which basically just means that my spine is curved. This can be a small, barely noticeable problem, or a not-so-small, "kinda hard not to notice" problem. Mine's the not-so-small kind. So I have chronic back pain, migraines and endometriosis...which is where the cells that are supposed to line your uterus decide to take a field trip and camp out elsewhere. They then swell and bleed and cause all sorts of issues. But mostly, it just hurts...a lot! So I'm kind of a wreck! Or so I used to think. I've recently been looking at things very differently. Who knows where it all started, but one of my favorite "breakthroughs", "turning points", whatever, happened when I was on a plane to Chicago. At the airport, I grabbed a book out of my backseat at the last minute that I had bought months and months earlier but had never even taken out of the bag. I was in so much pain (endometrios) at the time, but I had a very important day ahead of me. I was meeting with my business partner. And all I wanted him to see was a determined and very capable girl. Instead, I felt like curling up in a ball and crying. I honestly did not see how I was going to manage to get through the airport, on the plane, off the plane, in a cab...no way! Let alone fake my way through a meeting! I could barely walk. I was literally in tears on the plane. So I decided to read to try and take my mind off of it. The book I had grabbed was "The Secret". If you haven't read it, do. I won't give you a book report, but basically it talks about the Law of Attraction and how you can use it in your life. Specifically with pain, it suggested that the attitude of Gratitude was the most positive energy you can create for yourself. The exercise that I tried was that every time I felt pain (pretty much all the time at that point in my life), I started listing off things that I was grateful for, admittedly not the easiest thing to do when you're in pain. But I started off with obvious things, like having all appendages in tact, not currently being on fire...Then I started realizing how much I actually do have to be grateful for, like my wonderful fiancé, my babies (the furry four-legged kind!), a home, a job I absolutely love!, friends that support me, and oh yeah! the business partner I'm on my way to see. He's definitely been a blessing. And then it occurred to me that I didn't feel any pain. As soon as I said that, it was back...WHAT! So I read some more. Apparently whatever we focus on is what we bring to us. Ok, I buy that. But how do you not focus on pain when that's your current situation? And this is what I realized. There are several realities happening at the same time. At that point, for instance, I was in pain and on a plane, not in a safe place like my house where Foster (my fiancé) would be waiting on me and saying how sorry he was that I was feeling this way. Or...I was blessed enough to have a business partner who was flying me to meet with him so that we could get my aromatherapy business off to a great start. A business partner who believes in me enough to put time and money into MY dream! I was also blessed enough to have a job that I was able to be flexible enough to focus on this business, and a supportive fiancé at home who wants nothing but for me to succeed! Both realities completely true. So which to focus on...that's the key. I'm not suggesting that there aren’t things happening all around us that are actual problems. But the way to solving them is most definitely not to focus on them, make them bigger and give them all the power and energy that you have. So in the hour it took me to get to Chicago, I had changed my life! That was about a year ago. I sometimes find myself thinking about the pain that I no longer have, but quickly switch to gratitude. It’s just habitual now. And what a great habit to have! I’m not grateful for the pain going away...that's still focusing on the pain. I’m grateful for feeling great!. Weird, but I swear it happened!
In the past year, I have taken that power back and have used it to move forward. I've changed my diet significantly, which is one of the main things I want to talk about. And I've really focused on my spiritual growth. I can't wait to share it all and hear what you have experienced.
Thanks for reading!
Just a note, I actually wrote this over a year ago before my daddy died (I still can't believe I'm saying that out loud). I honestly had forgotten all about it. I ran across it today and realized that once again, the universe (and maybe even my daddy this time) always steers me in the right direction, just like when I grabbed The Secret out of my backseat at the last minute. This is what I am grateful for today.
