Today marks my 8-month anniversary of blogging. On one hand it seems a little amount of time compared to the timespans of so many other blogs that I visit and enjoy… on the other hand, it seems like a big achievement for a chronic pain “sicko” like me! I say this all the time, and at the risk of being boring, I’m going to say it again – YOU ALL MAKE MY LIFE SO MUCH BETTER. I still live with a fair amount of daily pain (some days are worse than others), but without all of you popping over and saying hi, I would still be living with a lot of misery too.
Pain and misery are two different things – it took me a while to figure it out – but it’s 100% true.
The other day, I wrote on “Tag Team Blogging” that I rarely run out of ideas, and I recommended that you tip your head to one side and shut an eye to see the world from a different perspective.
It was thinking about the “figure 8” that made me come up with this seemingly random idea. If you set the double-loop upright, then it is the small-ish number that sits between 7 and 9.
[Why was the number six so scared? Because seven ate nine…!]
Tip the double-loop on its side, however, and it goes from being a single number to the symbol of infinity. INFINITY! The idea of a never-ending universe always untethers me from my complacency or down-in-the-dump-ism. We reside within the infinite. We are made of star dust. Our sun is ancient. Our planet old beyond comprehension. Our troubles are our troubles (no dismissiveness here) but… those troubles are potentially tiny in the scheme of things.
We are simultaneously nothing and everything!
Last week I spoke about the Healing Art of Tai Chi. I noted that when we work on our mind-body connection, we are healing on a cellular level and a cosmic level.
Micro and macro – not one or the other – BOTH.
I can’t overestimate how important I think this is: physical AND emotional, daily AND eternally, personal AND communal.
Your pain is you-nique… it is spectacularly all yours.
I am equally confident however, that the only way to heal, truly heal, is to focus on both yourself, AND something bigger. You ARE you-nique, but you are NOT alone in your uniqueness!
It’s not 8 OR infinity – small or big… it’s 8 AND infinity – BOTH.
You are small, but you are incredibly mighty – interconnected to your brothers and sisters in pain / life – so embrace that interconnectedness if you can.
And in the spirit of interconnectedness, and because I just love doing it – here’s a shout-out to 8 of the blogs that I’ve visited in the last month that have made me smile – be sure to visit a couple to keep blogging beautiful!
Blog about one love and one pain: A bundle of things that cross my mind
Confessions of a Survivor: you’re not alone, you’re not crazy, you’re not abusive… you’re human
Content Catnip: Quirky internet wunderkammer
Marvelous Braimah: Self-identity, growth, and life—shared with simplicity and authenticity
My Mindfulness Journey: Here, you will find tips and tricks that work for me toward attaining mindfulness. In this stressful world, it’s essential to step back and slow down, and I’ll be with you every step of the way
Richard Bist: RichardBist.com
Shravan Avyukta: Shravan Avyukta – Wu Style Tai Chi
Troubador of Verse: Poetry, Plays, Prose and Song by Ana Daksina
So then, 8 months down, and 4 more to go (to meet my New Years Resolution)… or many, many more if the love is still mutually there…
Take care taking care, into infinity, Linda xxooooxx
[that’s 8 hugs and kisses if you’re wondering why so long!]
PS – I only found out a few minutes ago that today is apparently International Patient Safety Day – so a quick shout out to anyone who is in hospital, or is booked in to be – I’m thinking of you and sending you lots of patient-safety-vibes in whatever format suits your predicament best! xox
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