Little Ways to dodge the bugs

Sometimes life just gets overwhelming.  Too much stuff to do, too many bills to pay, too many commitments to keep.  And it builds and builds until wham, down you go with a cold or the flu, right?  Not me.  Really.  I don't get sick.  I occasionally get royally bitchy (my signal that I'm out of whack, and in need of self-care), to the point where the Keystone gals probably wish I would take my attitude home and give it a nice long nap (which I do), but I haven't had a cold or flu in at least four years.

One has been trying to catch me this week.  I've felt it surreptitiously poking around in my throat, upping the sludge production in my sinuses ever so slightly, and making me a little tired.  How have I blocked it?  Little ways.

First, I immediately reminded myself that I am created in the image and likeness of God, and therefore, illness is not part of my reality. 

Next, every time I noticed the symptoms threatening to flare up (you have to pay attention and catch it at the first tiny sign), I did three quick rounds of EFT meridian tapping (google this for all kinds of free instruction) to open any blocked flow there, as emotions and illness are linked (Tapping is new to me this year.  Prior to this, I just did forgiveness meditations, which apparently affect the same physical changes in the body.  Tapping is really quick though, and doesn't require solitude). 

Then, I gave myself a little sympathy, as my personal life is in a difficult transition, and I sometimes expect myself to handle everything to perfection, when in fact most of those problems are beyond my control.  Perfectionism is the highest form of self-abuse, so knock it off already.

Knowing that, I released all the stresses to Divine Intelligence, and made some time for forgiveness work in morning prayers.

Finally, I made a commitment to focus on "Little Ways" for a few days.

This is a technique I named when I was repairing a statue of St. Therese, the Saint of Little Ways.  I was also studying some of the teachings of Eric Butterworth, and they both were saying the same thing:  Be mindful of the small things you can do.  In the past, I simply gave myself permission to take a day to do whatever I felt like, explaining to boss or client that I needed a day to dodge a bug threatening to catch me.  Trust me, a boss just won't know how to argue with you when you say, "I'm calling in well"! :)))  Little Ways is the enhanced version of this.

The technique is to simply keep doing the next thing in front of you that needs doing, the minute you notice it needs done.  Not even the smallest thing gets left for later.  Stitch on the button now, take out the compost now, return the phone call now, and don't even look at the caller id, just pick up the phone and deal with whoever is there NOW.   Whoever or whatever presents itself, focus there, deal with it, then move on to the next thing.

Yes, this can play havoc on a schedule, but if you stick with it, problems untangle amazingly quickly, time frees up, and within a few days, you find yourself no longer overwhelmed because the mountain of stuff is much smaller, and what's left of it is no longer threatening to avalanche.  Can't disrupt your schedule any more than calling in sick to work later in the week, so you may as well try it.  Illness is borne of stress, so eliminate the stress (kids have stress too, and they are also lightening rods for parental stress, community and news stress, and other energies in the environment, as well as having fewer physical immunities built up). 

Of course, being able to say "I haven't had anything worse than an occasional mild headache and girl cramps in about four years"  does eliminate a major topic of everyday conversation.  However, it can be amusing to toss this out there when your co-workers start complaining.  It truly amazes me how much people will try to argue with me about this, saying how I'm just lucky, what good genes I must have, or that it's all because I don't have kids.  All I can say is you get what you believe in. 

We all go at our own pace, on this path to the heaven within.  Mind you, I muck up my life in plenty of other ways, so no one would mistake me for a saint.  I just offer this in case anyone reading today would rather not waste precious minutes of life on pointless illnesses.  So, be well, and if you're not, and not ready for this prevention, you can always ask me to serve up my best remedy:  comforting hugs(don't worry, I'm not going to catch it), healthful prayers, homemade chicken soup, and some sympathy for the stresses in your life, as those work almost as well.

Dawn-Marie, Artist in Wonderland at theartofthehome.blogspot.com