I'm sure most can relate to being a care giver and not being able to take the discomfort away from a loved one. I hear this from patients in reference to their parents, partners, and children. This past week was a meditation in just being a companion through a journey of healing. Fiona's body did all the right things... fever, vomiting, swelling, redness. All we could do is be with her. Rock her back to sleep, rub her belly, and give lots and lots of hugs. It was a challenge to keep my fear in check as to what could be the cause. Sometimes because of my training in physiology and biochemistry it is easy to list out all the possibilities and not have the reasoning to rule the obvious far-out-there options due to the fact that it is my daughter who is in discomfort. The pricelessness came in having the skill set to examine her nutrition points and check for her needing an adjustment daily. One day it was her low back that needed adjusted, then her C1 vertebra (common when fighting a virus), and also her upper back. Throughout the week her URT stress point flared up, then her SPL stress point (both are different immune points), then her challenge stress point (constipation due to so much sweating from the virus and some vomiting.). I could watch her body work through fighting. What an amazing feat our bodies go through daily to maintain homeostasis.
Today she is on her second nap (as she requested... she says "bed") and has asked for some solid foods as well as a couple back to back episodes of Daniel Tiger. (We just ordered her a Daniel Tiger T shirt from PBS. I'm sure she will want to wear it EVERY DAY!!!
It is a challenge to be with a loved one who is fighting, healing... as we all are in varying degrees everyday. Sometimes in the office patients get better very quickly... sometimes it takes more time, more diligence, more work... sometimes we can only get so far. What a life lesson. One to be practiced over and over. Enjoy the now. Kiss your children. Open your heart. Be patient. Smile. Breathe.
For my mental health I most often turn to a book titled "Not so Big Life" and read wherever it lands me. Today my take away is.
One of the most difficult skills to develop is the ability to say no
when you know that's what the situation requires.
When you listen to what your body and your intuition are telling you
and when you slow down a bit so that you can be more engaged,
tasks that seemed stultifying when you were overtaxed can reveal
themselves to be of a very different character. They can be stimulating
and enthralling when you are well rested and in a more peaceful state of mind
and thus in a higher or more open state of being. It's not the task that is the problem;
its the speed at which you are trying to do it and the lack or presence as you engage.
Nothing is worth jeopardizing your health for. Nothing.
-Sarah Susanka
So today... the dishes need done, the tub cleaned out, laundry folded, grass mowed, toys picked up, food supply replenished. However, none of that is going to happen because today we are going to recoup. We need naps, we need snuggles, and we need each other. Family.
