A while back when we were still allowed to catch a cold and not think we were going to die or kill our grandparents, I got a pretty bad one that turned into a gnarly sinus infection. Like most people I know, there’s no such thing as setting an appointment with a doctor for a week from next Tuesday to get looked at so I went into urgent care, laid down my eighty five bucks, waited my turn for the attending doctor to throw drugs at the problem and send me on my way. Sure, that works for me. So after a brief exam, I put my clothes back on and… (I didn’t take my clothes off! I was just channeling Don Rickles for a sec). After the light down the throat and the thing in the ears I was told I had a nasty sinus infection. As expected, antibiotics were prescribed and also a steroid called Prednisone. I went home, followed the doctors orders and took my medicine.
The next day my sinuses felt pretty good but my entire body felt… AMAZING. I couldn’t explain it at first but I felt 20 years younger. I was happier. I had more energy. After teaching 3 hot yoga classes in a row, I wasn’t exhausted and dragging my ass home but I was ready to go work out. What has happened!? Has God reached down through the vail of the night and blessed me with eternal life? Like a vampire but without all the murdering and blood and stuff? It must be. My quadricep tendonitis is gone. My low back pain is vanquished. Every joint in my body feels like butter instead of gravel. It’s a miracle! Or… is it the Prednisone? Turns out Prednisone is a highly effective anti-inflammatory and it was doing it’s thing. I was prescribed 10 days of it and I happily followed it to the letter.
What I realized during my 10 day reprieve from the Grim Reaper and my use of this miracle pill (Btw, it’s only a miracle in small doses. Long term use will turn you into Gollum. Crazy toxic after a while.) Anyway, what I realized was that I had no idea how much pain I was in until it was removed. I had become so used to being inflamed and in chronic pain that I just accepted it as normal. My consciousness had integrated the pain into my normal existence so I didn’t even notice it a lot of the time. I think this occurs with emotional, mental and spiritual pain as well. We deal with it for so long that it becomes part of us. The pain IS us. Our identity is sometimes classified by our anguish. Enter meditation, vacations, retreats… the Prednisone for our souls. Those metaphoric pills that remind us that we exist with unnecessary pain.
Sometimes we get into the habit of being unhappy or tormented and don’t know that it’s happening until that discomfort is lifted or remedied. Maybe a little meditation is just what the doctor ordered to take down the inflammation of our lives? Or… take a freaking nap. Remove the inflammation so you can see who’s really there.
