Healing requires many different things to take place, often all at the same time. You need to be meeting with doctors to finesse your medication options. You need to be working on your lifestyle decisions to give yourself the best chance to heal in the least toxic environment. You need to be exercising (or at least moving) and working on your physical strength to make you as resilient as possible for the journey ahead. Of course, you also have to keep an eye out for your emotional wellbeing and stay socially connected as much as possible. It doesn’t hurt if you can throw in a little spiritual or creative relief as well, in whatever form that takes for you.
There are a lot of layers to you – so there will also be a lot of layers to your healing process.
For some reason (maybe hunger?!), when I was thinking about these healing layers the other day, a layer-cake popped into my mind.
When I was growing up, birthday cakes tended to be chocolate slabs (round or square) with decorations on top to give them a sense of variety. I can still remember a teddy bear cake my Nana made, with its fluffy brown face, and brown-biscuit ears… but I can also remember seeing my first ever Black Forest Cake. And no disrespect to my Nana, but I remember being a little in awe of the German gateau! Layers of dark sponge cake, with rich cream in between, topped with icing, and more cream, and a literal cherry on top… it seemed SO decadent!
When I was married, my husband and I couldn’t choose what flavor our wedding cake should be. Chocolate was popular, but I quite like a good coffee cake, and when we were sampling the shop’s options, the caramel flavor was good too. So, we ended up with a layer cake of all three, in decreasing sizes, one slab-cake atop of the other (a bit like my ‘step after self-actualization’ ziggurat). When it was cut up, our guests could choose the flavor they preferred… and let me tell you, the approach worked, because all the cake got eaten!
When my girls were growing up, it was The Rainbow Cake that was all the rage at parties everywhere; 6 or 7 layers of individually colored sponge cakes, with cream in between and all over… and no matter how skinny each layer was, the cakes were always so tall. If the cake was cut neatly, then the slice on the plate was just so pretty.
Then there’s all the options I’m less familiar with: Tiramisu, trifles, maybe lemon meringue pies could count too, or certain versions of ice-cream cakes…
Perhaps you can think of a layer-cake of your own…
The point is, if you can imagine a really yummy layer cake, hold it in your mind.
The next time you’re feeling a little overwhelmed with your healing journey and all the things that are required to keep you moving from illness to wellness: put the kettle on for a cup of tea and while the kettle is boiling think of that layer cake, imagine how it looks, smells, tastes… and smile… layers can be good… layers can be fine.
[I know it might seem like I’m always going a little bit off-range with some of my ideas, but if I have discovered one thing on my own healing journey it’s this: try lots of different things – and – embrace whatever works… like truly: WHATEVER WORKS… no one else on the planet needs to know you imagine invisible layer-cakes to cheer yourself up… well… no one other than you guys that is!]
So, keep going, keep growing, keep trying new things, keep having your cake and eating it too… you got this.
Take care taking care, yummily, Linda x
The Mindful Migraine 
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