I often end my emails with "Be Well", and the lesson for me over these past several weeks is that there's a difference between wellness and being pain-free.Wellness looks different for everyone; for me it's a feeling of acceptance, presence, compassion, openness and gratitude for my life. Whether or not I feel WELL has less to do with how much physical pain my neck hernias or anything else are causing me, but how skillfully or fearfully I work with the pain. After revisiting Pema Chodron's teachings on suffering, meditation and freedom last month, I was clearly "gifted" an opportunity to work with them for real...
Practicing mindfulness to tap into my fundamental feeling of wellness in the midst of my physical pain definitely continues to be a challenging exercise, but it has been proven true for me (again) that genuine joy or a feeling that all is well is independent of what is happening to or around me. I know that not because I read about it or heard about it at a seminar or lecture, but because I experience it. At those times when my response to life does not reflect the spiritual principles I study, the disconnect is not in my understanding of the concepts but in feeling the truth of them for me.
I invite you to look at any area of your life that is causing you pain - physical or emotional. What lesson is your pain trying to teach you? Where is there a disconnect between what you say you believe and your behaviors? Can you access a feeling of wellness or a knowing that all is well even when you would prefer life be different in the moment? Because you become really powerful and free when you use ALL of your life in service to your highest sense of self...and then offer your best to others.
