Tough Circumstances

[Gareth]

I'm sorry that I haven't been around for a couple of days. Either my MS took a sharp downturn or I have picked up some kind of bug - they always hit me ridiculously hard. Either way, I have been bed-bound for two days, and to top it all off, the face pain has come around in a vicious bout as well as all the other symptoms.

It's been a difficult couple of days. Mindfulness has been very difficult in these circumstances. I've lost count of the number of times that my mind has started telling me this story:

You are only 35, and the face pain is getting worse. Where are you going to be in 5 years time.

Believe me, this story doesn't end well, and I am much better off that mindfulness can pull me back to the present moment. The pain is bad, but it's not me, not who I am. And in the present moment, it's only the pain that I have to bear, not the story that comes with it.

[FeeHutch]

I hope this eases for you as soon as possible x

[JonW]

Hi Gareth.
Hoping that this too will pass. Stay strong and mindful, my friend.
All good things, Jon

[rara]

This sucks to read You know what to do bro...shut that other voice out. Keep going!

[piedwagtail91]

it takes a hell of a lot to stay mindful when things are like this.
it sounds like you know though that you don't have to live and experience the five years now.
just one moment at a time, that's what makes it more bearable.
as the others have said , stay strong and mindful and i hope it soon eases.
mick

[Gareth]

Mindfulness has been a blessing in these circumstances. Whatever it was has taken a big swipe at my mobility too, getting around is getting seriously difficult at the minute. This has it's own story too, complete with wheelchairs, football games that I don't get to play with my sons and the rest.

It's all speculation, made up by my mind of course, and Mick is right: I don't have to live it any more. I so much happier because of this simple fact.

Here's to mindfulness.

[Cheesus]

I can deeply empathise. I have M.E. and have been bed bound for a while now and the peaks and troughs of the illness are mostly looking like troughs at the moment.

One thing I have found useful is to examine my relationship to my own pain. Learning to treat my pain with compassion rather than judgement and denial has been really important. A lot of my experience is very overpowering and so find a place of non-judgementality can be very difficult. With cultivating lovingkindness and compassion I am finding it easier to let my woes be as they are.

I wish you all the best of health.

[Gareth]

Are you on Twitter Cheesus?

[Cheesus]

No I'm not. Why?

[Gareth]

I am friends on there with a girl who has ME, and I'm sure that mindfulness can help her, but I sense she is resistant.