Ooh. Ouch. I got an Owie!
Woo-woo time.
I taught my son, when he was 4-years-old, how to make those childhood cuts and bruises ease with ‘PAIN-BE-GONE.’ A cure-all for owies. It is a way to make the crying stop and healing begin.
I would put my hand over the owie and tell him to breathe “healing” into my hand, and with love and compassion send the pain devils away. We synchronized our breath, and voila, it was all better. Still works on the grandkids, but I am only getting temporary relief from my gout.
One of my friends said to me, “Gout isn’t that the rich man’s disease?”
At first that remark felt like I was being condemned for my rich life style. I could feel myself heading toward resenting the remark when I realized, I am rich! Let me count my blessings. King Midas does not have all the gold I have in my treasury.
One of my treasures is curiosity and its well-developed cousin interest, as in ‘that’s interesting, how does that work?’
Being interested over the source of gout I found the The cause is excess uric acid in my system, which I smell after eating asparagus. I am too acidic. I need to balance my system and develop a new diet to become more alkaline.
The pain, though no longer debilitating, is at times discomforting, impairs creativity, energy, and fun. I am using the pain as a muse in creating this essay.
Being a wordsmith, I like to source words. I use Shipley’s Dictionary of Word Origin and found the word pain has a Latin charge to it.
“The word pain shows the olden belief that our troubles are the result of our sins; we pay the penalty.” Pain has relatives, ‘pine,’ pay, ‘penance,’ become penitent, are placed in penitentiary where one may repent. ’All word relatives of pain.
Referencing my own internal encyclopedia there are two phrases I have often used relating to pain; “People do not make changes without pain,” and a corollary, “Where do you go to create change without pain?”
I started getting relief when I looked at the positive intent of gout, then became gouts friend.
There are lessons here; build your self-appreciation muscle, and a willingness to change.
For pain freedom it helps to clear your focus.
When you focus on what you don’t have, you’ll never have enough.
When you focus on what you do have, you will always have plenty.
“Pain-be-gone” is a good beginning for self-care, and a messenger for change.
