We never value or even see some things in our lives until we are just about to lose them.
This is particularly true of health. When we are in good health, we are so busy in the world that we never even notice how well we are.
Illness comes and challenges everything about us. It unmasks all pretension. When you are really ill, you cannot mask it. Illness also tests the inner fiber and luminosity of your soul. It is very difficult to take illness well. Yet it seems that if we treat our illness as something external that has singled us out, and we battle and resist it, the illness permeates our very being and overshadows who we are.
On the other hand, a visit to a hospital often shows that very ill people are more alive to life’s possibilities than the medical verdict would ever allow or imagine. When we learn to see our illness as a companion or friend, it really does change the way the illness is manifested. The illness changes from a horrible intruder to a companion who has something to teach us. When we see what we have to learn from an illness, then often the illness can gather itself and begin to integrate.
Sometimes, when you see a thing as the enemy, you only reinforce its presence and power over you… Held openly, as a friend, this bit of unknown aliveness may take you on an amazing journey to places you may have never anticipated. Such attention enriches and deepens gentleness, presence and acceptance.
Thank you Mary Ann for providing a way for me to contextualize illness in my life and in the lives of those around me.
It reminds me a bit about what I’ve experienced with the current pandemic. While the impact of COVID19 has put our lives in uncharted territory, it has also brought some undeniable but often overlooked opportunities. It has taught me to rapidly learn new skills and mindsets, build new relationships, and figure out new ways to do things.