The upside of flu

Okay, I pushed it too much, including not being able to protect myself adequately from the energy of 1500 people releasing negativity (long story), and ended up with the worst bug I’ve had since I came down with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in my twenties. I spent an entire week in bed, for most of it unable to do more than lie there. No reading, no computer graphics, which I can usually do even when I can’t read, no eating — I pretty much just lay there, in varying degrees of pain. I watched way too much TV, but then, it was the only thing I could do to distract myself from the body aches, which could be really uncomfortable. So I am grateful to the television, and all the people who put on all those shows.

After a day or two, it began to rain, so I opened the bedroom window wide to let in the sound of the rain, and maybe some healing negative ions which would come off the moving water. And I learned a few things:

1. Do less, be more - We live, I mean, I live, but I think I’m pretty normal in this way, a very, very frenetic lifestyle here in the US. Lying there for a week, I could see how much of what I do is really... superfluous. It’s probably more important for me to lie there a bit every day, enjoying the quiet and the trees outside my window than it is to read one more news item. And what did I miss in a week? Not all that much. I’m sure no one noticed that I never sent an email last Thursday. My husband fended for himself just fine in the kitchen. My body seemed to enjoy not having to digest food. The list of what I didn’t do is endless, and it really didn’t matter.

2. Appreciate the health you have – if it’s mostly good, we tend to ignore it. What you focus on, expands, so be grateful for it every day. I know I am, especially now.

3. Nature is healing – As I lay there in front of a large, open window (no, it wasn’t too cold, it’s always warmish when it rains), I had the sense that this enormous cedar behind the house was trying to heal me. I could almost feel it reaching in through the window, sweeping its branches across me energetically. Okay, maybe it was the delusion of a fever, but what if it wasn’t? What if there is more to our earth relationships than meets the everyday eye?

3. It’s blessed to receive – I know I’m a lot better at giving than receiving; maybe you are, too, since we’re all taught that “”it’s more blessed to give than to receive”. But really, if every gift needs a giver and a recipient, how can that be? A time of illness is a great time to practice receiving with grace. When we’re sick, we need help, whether it’s actual medical attention, energy healing, or something very prosaic, like someone to pick up the kids. Our only choice is whether or not to accept with grace. I choose grace.

They say that every cloud has a silver lining. For me, being reminded of these things, was that silver lining, the upside of flu.