We Can Grow Resilience

In the Clinical Pain Advisor, Drs Sibille and Bartley said, “resilience is not a fixed trait that we are born with, but rather we each have the innate capacity to grow and become more resilient."

Be Grateful

My husband was away on work when I woke up to in terrible pain. It is especially difficult to be in terrible pain when you're home alone. I took a bath to help calm the pain. It helped some. Later, I noticed a sea of water. Water was leaking from the bathtub plumbing. Rugs were soaked. Water was everywhere! I had to figure out what to do, and I had to get all these rugs up. I sent my son an S.O.S. since he lives nearby and called my husband. So much for the help of the bath! I could feel my body seizing up, increasing my terrible pain. My husband told me where the shutoff valve was... all I had to do was climb on the drier. What? That's practically an impossible task for me when I'm in severe pain. Then I needed to run up and down the stairs to verify that the leak had stopped. Thankfully, my son walked in, stating "don't worry, Mom, I got this. Just sit down." Then quick as a flash he was up and down. He may be the roadrunner. Beep beep! When done, he told me it was taken care of and it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Even in our pain we need to take time to look around and be grateful. I am so grateful I wasn't alone in this mess.

Wanting Things To Be Different Leads To Suffering

It's Saturday and my husband has been out of town working for part of the week. I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with him today. Yet, here I lay by the fireplace, using mindfulness to calm a pain flare. Did I mention I have a wet Labradoodle on my feet? It's our first rain of the spring. I'm from Minnesota, and we are walled in by snow. Thinking more about what I was missing was only increasing my suffering. Yes, I had to have pain but I could change the amount of suffering. After all I am laying by a cozy fireplace with my dog reading, that is pretty darn good. When I'm suffering, I survive better by focusing on the good things I have, rather than focusing on what I'm missing.