I Charissa May Borroff truly believe my illness has been a blessing in disguise. Because the only thing that can follow is self healing. I was suprised when I started taking perscription pain killers for chronic pain related to endometriosis, how much pain I could still feel. From that point my life went down hill. After floating in painful apathy for a few years I felt like I needed more help than a perscription. This is when my journey started; when I new I couldn’t spend the rest of my life feeling helpless. I was ready to try almost any complimentary therapy I could lay my hands on. I did find the right therapy for me and I was suprised that when my pain levels began to drop, that wasn’t the end of my troubles because the pain had tortured my nerves for so long. I was suprised to notice a direct relationship with my feelings and my pain. I knew I had to actively do something my self for the sake of my health. When I feel fine and I stop making the effort, all my work comes undone. I didn’t ever want to be ill ever again.This isn’t an easy jounrney and there is always work to be done but it is better than going back to illness.
Happiness just doesn’t happen without any effort. I have to keep moving. Along this journey I have met some very kind and knowledgable friends that have passed on to me unforgetable life changing books and words of encouragement. I’ve found unexpected and extraordinary treasures that I have overlooked for years. I have searched for helpful information far and wide so that I can solve my list of problems. I present to you these useful implements of self healing from my medicine bag that I see as essential on my journey of self healing.My definition of pain is tortured nerves that deprive health and happiness e.g backache, depression, stress, tinnitus. There is a physical pain and mental pain that can be brought about to anyone at anytime by anything. I offer these suggestions for you to embrace and explore a journey from the killer storm to a sea of tranquility… … I hope you don’t mind my sense of humour inbedded in here as well xxc;
Sometimes it’s easy to forget we have animal bodies. We are omnivorous mammals with a wild heritage. We must rescue our animal bodies as if we are rescuing an wild injured creature. It’s so importanat to get the right medical treatment and keep up with regular health checks and appropriate medication. Crank up a regime of eating a natural unprocessed and balanced diet. You wouldn’t let a rescue animal miss breakfast and then wait until 5pm to hand it a load of lardy fatty stodge crammed with sugar, salt, caffine, preservatives, colourings, MSG and stimulants ( It just agitates and stalls the body’s natural healing process) Make sure there is plenty of fresh water to refresh your body’s constant need of this magical life giving substance. The area of the brain that deals with thirst is the same area that deals with pain. It’s good to think of ourselves as walking millponds full of water. We are ourselves a habitat for single celled life forms that depend on water. A regular fresh supply will ward off stagnation and keep all the little friendly microbes inside us healthy. Ensure there is plenty of rest to allow the body to concentrate on recovery. Keep clean and well groomed. Start a sensible reintroduction programme back into the wild once healthy and strong.
e.g light from darkness, dispelling pollutants, awakening, flourishing, thriving free from hinderment of the negative thoughts that pain has conditioned in you. Address the experience of liberation from afflictions.
Concentrate on the possibility that you can stop your suffering. Cultivate your understanding of the sensation of halting suffering in you. This desire can activate this change. Have you had enough of the way pain bullies you? Imagine the power of your thought clearing away your pain. Like the sound of it? Fancy a try? There’s no harm in trying is there!
e.g. Propaganda, crappy trivial media, overwhelmed by harmful emotions like anger, fear, guilt, hopelessness and resentment, busy roads, Places with bad atmosphere’s, letting negative thoughts of your own hurt you, reliving painful memories, destructive thoughts like telling yourself that you are OK and that don’t need medication when you do need it. Or self criticism. Be observant, identify harmful negativity and take control of your negative situations in a positive way!
A big issue is exposing yourself to “Toxic” people or “Emotional Vampires” that will exploit your good nature. These can be strangers, friends or family who persistently do any of these abusive or manipulative things; Constant demands, constantly putting you down or criticising you making you feel that nothing you do is good enough, Ignore what you say and act as if you don’t exist, Take up more than their fare share of attention/ conversation/ physical space, constantly invade you’re personal space with probing questions so that you feel interrogated, constantly invading you’re personal space by giving themselves a free reign picking through you’re belongings “borrowing things” without asking and having a free reign around your home opening draws and cupboards without asking, talk “about” you rather than “to” you or talk “over” you, Spread gossip and rumours that undermine you, Express in actions/ words/ tone of voice or body language that you are stupid/ignorant/incompetent/odd or defective. No-one is any of these things all the time. If you are believing what they say to you then you have been hit badly, Undermining comments about your past errors or shortcomings – giving constant reminders that diminish and deny you any “fresh start” or acknowledgment of your efforts/intentions or progress towards change, Copying elements of your individuality and taking credit for it or emulating a better version of you. Drain your energy, time and other resources, by their constant need for help/ advice/ sympathy/ attention/ information/ confidence-boosting/ rescuing/ emotional or financial support all add up to a pattern of “clingy” dependency, bully/ manipulate/ pressurize/ encourage you to have feelings of guilt on a regular basis or feelings of inadequacy or inferiority, Make poisonous remarks that leave you feeling belittled/frustrated/guilty or threatened(If somebody says something that keeps reeling around in your mind upsetting you through the night , that is more or less a psychic attack to you really), Deceive you, steal from you/ or “borrow” things but don’t give them back, Damage the things of value to you like possessions relationships and your ethical values, demean you by talking to you as if you have limited knowledge and understanding as if they are informing you valuable knowledge when in matter of fact they are just stating the obvious, Do not allow you to live your life your own way with your own beliefs and your own personal space. They possibly may not have learnt about the importance of respect for boundaries and have an invasive nature.“Toxic” people can either be unaware or very aware of what they do. None the less it has the same results and can give you setback after setback energy wise. Leaving you feeling drained and exhausted. Toxic people have burdens too and will feel insecure with themselves. But they are dealing with their pain in an unhealthy negative way. They may be unaware that their ego has inflated after some traumatic event. A natural response but unhealthy if the ego has been aloud to run riot and cause nuisance. This will manifest as being more self centered than most and possibly have over narcissistic qualities. All that they touch will be dragged down with them or pushed down to give them a lift. They will probably have a few friends that get rundown and ill quite regularly. They will have limited self awareness or social awareness and may lack some compassion and respect for all living things. A funny put down is a put down none the less and will have come from a deep insecurity. Jealousy is an admission of inferiority.
It is best to walk away if possible. Even if you are feeling relatively healthy, it makes no sense to expend time and energy with little or no payback or negative payback. Before you know it, you will be back you square one or worse. Don’t fool yourself that you can deal it over the long-term. Anger is very like pain in the way that it pops up to raise the alarm that harm has been done. It is also like pain in the way that it shouldn’t be lived with and should be acted upon to get some relief. So turn a negative into a positive by whatever means you can and take control of your destiny for the sake of your health.
If you value their friendship perhaps it could be worth making them aware that you are trying to heal and that you could really appreciate their support by being a better listener or being more tactful and for their benefit, they need you to point out some unhelpful behavior of theirs. I’d feel awful if someone thought I was doing anything to offensive and I’d really appreciate being told so that I could make it up in some way. Things may not be what they seem. Use your strong feelings positively to raise awareness. By communicating your feelings you may be doing them a favor by holding up a mirror to them and may strengthen your relationship and dissipate any destructive resentment.
However this can be a very exhausting thing to do and even the thought of this could be harrowing to deal with when you have a longterm illness and so will have very little energy. If that is the case remember that you are the one with an illness, they have given you set backs, and that is a reasonable enough reason to walk away!
If everyone had the strength to walk away they would have to face what they are avoiding with their stirring and web weaving.
Most importantly you have to deal with these people in a way that makes you feel most comfortable. To end up feeling drained you have infact let go of your much needed energy. So Change the way you deal with things to maintain your feeling of lightness. If that is ignoring them and singing Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive then so be it. so be it. You can imagine that you are being protected by that “ready break” glow or make a positive affirmation in your mind that you deserve love and respect. You could imagine Kim and Aggie appalled by the foulness that comes out of their mouth as they scrub away their heavy dark atmosphere with lemon juice and elbow grease! Imagine Tinkerbell is firing fairy dust at the offending person. Use your imagination You could even imagine turning your anger into a healing beam of light from the pit of your stomach that will lighten them up and cleanse any darkness from them. Or perhaps play a sort of Bingo and use your sense of humour. As you cross off all of their known bad character traits that normally get you down give yourself a treat when you get a full house! Try carrying small symbolic keep sakes to remind you that you are now stronger and are protecting yourself actively but peacefully. Like Tourmaline or obsidion to ward off negativity. You could even create your own protective charms and talismans.
With a bit of research you’ll find that there are many symbolic items and materials that are used for these very purposes. If they show no signs of letting up and you feel injustice, send out the wish that they get back everything they deserve for hurting you. so they get back what they’ve sent out. As long as you are a kind person this is the best message to shout out loud because you haven’t wished them anymore harm than they have already done themselves (which is enough). This makes sure that nothing harmful comes back to you and an order for their come uppence has been made. They will get the message.
All of the below will help healing and self development greatly and help you to learn how to protect yourself and also trust in yourself to find new ways to cope with negativity.
e.g. all sentient things naturally seek happiness and want to be free of suffering. Look after your environment. When you have the energy , support causes in your locality and trust that when everyone does this it makes the whole world a better place. Make sure you support your loved ones in a way to have as happy a life as possible. Take pride in the support and help that you give out. Be tactful and kind. A little goes a long way and back to you. It’s making helpful allies really. I’ll scratch your back you scratch mine. Cultivating compassion through kind hearted altruism renews the determnation to end suffering and also generates helpful friends! a little thought that If someone has given you the time and effort of friendship let them know how good that is. Don’t take liberties. Don’t gossip someone’s secrets they’ve entrusted in you. No one exists on the planet for you to gain petty fun at their expense. To treat someone with little respect is demeaning to both parties. They might not let on what you’re doing to them but they will think you’re stupid and of limited awareness. You may not be able to help yourself; it might be a hard habit to break especially if no one is telling you so you think you are getting away with it. But you have to respect that some people may have better observation skills than you. Therefore you get less respect back. Respect that although you may not be able to see it. Everyone has a cross to bear of some form. It may not be as great a burden as yours. Burdens are relative and that someone could feel equally as overwhelmed as you. You may not see their burden but you shouldn’t pile more burden energy wise onto someone by taking liberties because you think they look fine to you. Or shouldn’t make them feel bad because they haven’t got it as hard as you. You will get out of life what you put in. If you give good people you’re best they’ll give you their best! " My religion is very simple; my religion is kindness" – the Dalai Lama
© Copyright property of Charissa May Borroff All Rights Reserved 2008
Comments
A nice share. Thank you.
My pleasure xxc;
This is so wonderful – true and, in itself, healing. I am really happy that I read this today. Thank you for sharing this Charissa, bless you!
Wow! I’m really happy for you! Bless you too and I wish you a safe journey! Many thanks!
thank you for allowing me to share this amazing journal with others Charissa…
I hope it will help us all who struggle with issues of pain management for both the mind and body, it’s a beautifully written piece, full of wisdom and insight…thank you again from my heart…
Karin’s journal relating to this journal
This is definitely the best attitude to have for this to be successful. I hope you have all the success you can imagine & more! I had severe endometriosis & it was excruciating! Physically & mentally. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody & I’m so sorry that you’ve had to experience any of it. I think your attitude will be your best “medicine” above all else. This is really good advice & it’s cool that you’re sharing it with others this way. You’re obviously a caring person with a heart of gold & I hope that your health improves quickly & your pain goes away forever! =)
This is Lovely!!!! Thank you so much for sharing this with us all :o)
Your writing is so inspirational ….. once i started reading it …i couldn’t stop !!!
You write with such passion, kindness and understanding…and it shines through your writing :o)
Such wonderful words of wisdom… very inspirational !!! :o)
Thank you for sharing :o)
Thank you very much for writing and sharing your wisdom. I’ll keep your words close to me. :)
I Thank you so very much indeed! Hand on heart, I’m lost for words right now! I wish you all the very best of wishes ! xxc: