The Mindful Migraine

If you want a building to stay standing… you gotta have foundations. Tents don’t have foundations… and tents blow away when they’re subjected to a little bit of wind-blowing-pressure. A skyscraper, on the other hand, well it has structural members that go deeeeeep underground, so that it can stay standing in a gale.

I just read that back, and it sounded a bit patronizing – it’s not meant to be – but it is intended to state the obvious and labor the point.

Why?

Because healing is like anything else: if you want it to last – you gotta have foundations.

So, now that I’ve “stated the obvious” – what would healing foundations look like?

Ummm… if I had to answer that just for myself, my answer would be SWANEY:

+ Sleep: get enough, and make it regular;

+ Water: staying hydrated;

+ (pay) Attention to what triggers your pain attacks;

+ Nutrition: eat food which fuels your body with what it needs;

+ Exercise: or at least, get moving when you can; and

+ (say) “Yes I can heal”: keep reminding yourself that a positive attitude goes a long way.

With the anacronym you get to be the little ugly ducky that wasn’t really ugly at all; it just needed time and patience enough to go on their transformational journey and become the super-glam swan they were meant to be.

Since I feel that I need to be a BIT more thorough in my reply, I headed out to the internet to see if I could find some extra advice on what the ‘foundations of healing’ might look like. Here’s what I found:

Not a lot… at first.

Almost every site that used the ‘foundations of healing’ as a heading, was promoting a course or ebook you had to pay for or give up your contact details for. I also discovered that ‘healing foundations’ was a broad subject. There were foundations for good relationships, for example, or good money habits…

After a lot of looking, I did find a couple of extra “bricks” to add to the wall of my initial foundation:

+ Prevention: instead of thinking of healing as something that comes along AFTER you’re ill, think of yourself as trying to stop yourself from getting sick(er). You go to the dentist BEFORE you have a cavity, so stay up to date with doctors’ visitors and the like;

+ Assemble a support team: surround yourself (as much as possible) with people who love you, believe in you and want to help you heal;

+ Rest: different to sleep, this includes taking time out during the daylight hours to recharge your batteries as required;

+ (go) Toxin-free: reduce the toxins in your body, environment, and life – by becoming conscious of what chemicals you use around the house, quit smoking, avoid friendships that don’t currently serve you well, and so on;

+ Nature-time: spend time in the outdoors, reconnecting with the greater world, getting fresh air and sunlight (this might include exercise or it might be more to do with rest);

+ Emotional health: a lot of the ‘bricks’ mentioned so far emphasize physical health; but emotional health is also critical to your healing. Not just having a positive attitude, but actually seeking help if you are struggling… don’t let your sadness, hopelessness, anxiety or depression get away from you… I also think this could be expanded to include faith, spirituality and creativity… the things that light you up inside and add to your bliss;

+ Reduce stress: ok, ok, it seems obvious in hindsight – and slightly impossible to always control – but if possible, remove the stressors in your life, or if not remove them, then start to get help on how to turn the volume down. [Here’s a tough-love moment: I KNOW that NO stressed person ever got better by someone telling them to “chill out dude” but I also know that no stressed-out person got better by leaning into their stress]; and

+ Self-care: give yourself the love and respect and time to heal that you deserve – pamper yourself occasionally and remember that self-care is NOT selfish.

OK, so with a little bit of contrivance, we have SWANEY (the ugly sicko who came good) and PARTNERS (all the support that helped ducky along the way).

It’s suddenly a bit of a long list – but as I said at the start; if you don’t want all your hard work to be wasted – start your healing journey with some solid foundations.

Take care taking care, Linda xx

[PS – let me know if I’ve missed anything!]

[PPS – on a completely different tangent – Fish Doorbell season has just started again in the Netherlands – it’s where you get to ring a digital doorbell to help fish get through an underwater gate… truly!]