Miraculous pain relief

Last Sunday, my husband and I got out our decades-old, seldom used cross country ski equipment and ventured into the woods.

Not surprisingly, I fell numerous times. I was out of practice, and my ear was a little congested throwing me off balance. At one point, I feared having sprained or broken my right foot. But I got myself up and carried on. I was enjoying the spectacular scenery.

An hour later, as we approached home, I realized I’d lost my prescription sunglasses. We decided to retrace our steps. It was a long trek back, but success! I found them.

I felt somewhat euphoric, likely due to the endorphins (natural pain killers) generated from the endurance activity.

A few hours later, my foot started to hurt. It got progressively worse. In bed, the weight of the covers seemed to cause excruciating pain.

Seldom do I have an opportunity to address personal physical ailments. Over the last few years, I have had none of my own to manage.

I got up, iced for twenty minutes, soaked in Epsom salts, took a natural anti-inflammatory and wrapped it.

The pain lingered. It was throbbing. So as I have, at times, inspired others to do, I asked myself why this might be happening for me.

Pain can provide valuable insight.

Could there possibly be some subconscious secondary gain from this condition?

Nope! I did not require forced down-time to recover from overuse.

Nope! I did not need to bow out of any commitment.

Nope! I had no intention of having anybody look after me.

Nope! Disability was not a passive-aggressive way to justify getting new ski equipment. I don’t want more stuff.

Could this be a divine conspiracy?

Bingo! The answer came. It was clear as day.

I had just finished reading Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion by Émile Coué. Perhaps I was being challenged to test the efficacy of the simple method Coué proposed for self-healing.

Softly, moving my lips while holding my foot, I repeated as the Coué method suggests the following quote twenty times.

Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.

Nothing to lose and possibly lots to gain.

Believe it or not, the following morning, I woke up pain-free. I got up with some apprehension, but unlike the night before I could place all my weight on the right foot.

Being cautious, I did not venture out for a hike that day. It was slippery. But, I was able to practice yoga.

Tuesday I snowshoed and shovelled snow happily.

That evening I decided to set the intention to heal the congested ear. When I woke up Wednesday morning, it too was back to normal.

Okay, I believe in miracles.

I will never claim I can heal others. But I am now more convinced that with auto-suggestion and renewed respect for Coué’s work, indeed, day by day, in every way, I will become better and better.