I have spent more
than a week in a great deal of pain.
The kind of pain
that consumes your life.
And takes your
breath away.
I didn’t know it
took my breath away until after multiple medical appointments to get it figured
out, and as soon as the pain medication I was finally prescribed kicked in, I
suddenly felt like I could breathe.
I always thought I
had a high threshold for pain – I even had doctors tell me so – but this week I
almost couldn’t take it. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, but there was
absolutely no position whether sitting, standing, laying, walking, crouching,
or curled up in the fetal position that I wasn’t inwardly screaming.
Partway through
wallowing in this ordeal it dawned on me that I’d better start practicing what
I preach. I have stated – in this blog - that joy is something you can choose.
Well, what better time to prove it!
I feel I need to
say here that I’m not making a statement about mental illness. I’ve never been
diagnosed with a mental illness and can’t speak for those who have. I have no
idea if choosing joy is an option in those circumstances, though it would be an
interesting study.
In my present
circumstance, however, I decided to peer through the pain and locate some of my
best “joy bubbles” on which to focus. Things that set the joy bubbles … well,
bubbling.
I eventually came
up with 25, some of which I put into practice and others I spent time
thinking about.
Here they are in
no particular order:
25 JOY BUBBLES
1. Pink
2.
An actual real letter in the
mail for me
3.
The way my grandson calls me
Maa-ma
4.
Creativity
5.
The meadowlark's song
6.
Cloud watching
7.
A new bookmark
8.
Walking down a school hallway
when everyone else is in class
9.
Just stepping IN to a fine arts
college or university, where the creativity in the air is distinct and palpable.
10.
Presents – for me
11.
A full pantry
12.
New piano music to learn
13.
Surprises of kindness
14.
Sky
15.
Wind
16.
The sound of the English horn
17.
Yellow roses
18.
An organized drawer
19.
Good music played/sung well
20.
A surprising and well-turned
phrase
21.
The smell of clover
22.
Wild daisies
23.
Walking barefoot in soft grass
24.
Quiet
25.
A genuine smile from a stranger
And you know what?
It worked. It got my mind off the pain and focused on my many gifts from God,
and His goodness to me - through people, through nature, through music.
Later in the week
I happened to exclaim, “What a great day!”
To which the
Cowboy remarked, “That is quite the pain medication.”
Little did he know
that, pain medication aside, I had decided to choose joy.
