My weakness is my strength………

“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway

Each day we are given a choice, not in what happens to us (sorry), rather how we will react to what happens. A choice.

Nearing the end of a my morning yoga session, we are directed to pigeon prep, preparing for pigeon pose.  What is “pigeon” pose?

For someone who is living with chronic piriformis syndrome pain, pigeon pose is a love/hate relationship.  “Love” because I believe it is helping to stretch the muscle and help to release the pressure that the muscle is sending to my sciatic nerve (eventually)…..”Hate” because it is painful.  Horribly awfully painful.  As one of my favorite and trusted teachers leaned over me to gently push me further into the pose, tears streamed down my face as I was both conscious of the pain that accompanies this pose and continuing the meditative state that allows me to hold the pose, even with the pain.  That was my choice.  I couldn’t choose whether it was painful, but I could choose my reaction to it and whether or not I was going to stay in the pose.

When I tell people I understand your pain, your frustration, your hopelessness, I really mean I understand! I live with pain, daily.  There are days sitting is difficult, there are nights sleeping is almost impossible.  There are days I think I’d rather sit on the sidelines (or couch)…..if that didn’t actually cause me to be in pain.

The pain is my weakness…..but it’s also my strength.

In the moment of our greatest weakness, it is our mind that takes over to help find the strength to move forward.  Mind and body, working together.  Mind strong when my body feels weak.  While we may not have control over the pain (literally or figuratively) in our life, we do have control how we react to it.

Although I hold out hope for one day finding a “cure” that would allow me to live pain-free, for now, I welcome yoga and running and biking and walking as ways to keep my body active and meditation and prayer as a way to keep my mind strong.  I control what I can (my strength) and what I can’t, I let go.  My weakness (pain) has made me realize I am much stronger than I ever thought I was capable of being.  The formerly weak image of myself who could barely run a city block “healthy” is the same person who ran the Berlin Marathon last fall, in pain.  If our mind can conceive it, we can achieve it.

So what’s your greatest weakness?  How can you use the power of your mind to transform your thoughts on your weakness & turn it into your greatest strength?

One final quote, from an interesting source……

Peace……..