Last week* I talked about my falling down and breaking one of my vertebrae, so you can imagine the joy I felt this morning, when I could put on my socks, for the very first time, all by myself again. 🙂
It’s mind blowing what we all take for granted. Me too, even though I try to live as consciously as possible, there is just so much we do, and experience, automatically.
For most of us, sitting upright, walking, taking a shower, eating independently, putting on our shoes, …is just as normal as breathing. But it can all change in a heartbeat.
I don’t want to dawdle any further on all the details for too long, because people immediately get bored, and dismiss all of my ramblings about, being grateful for what I can do, and living in the moment, as just another couple of clichés that will pass just as quickly once I have recovered. But I hope by writing my blogs, some of the ‘becoming aware items’ will stick with some of my readers.
I know, in crisis situations, whenever problems occur, clichés come easy, and may even seem cheap, but why does that irritate people so quickly?
It’s no coincidence that so many people use them, and have been using them for centuries.
Why?
How do clichés come about?
Knowledge, wisdom, sayings…come from experiencing the same thing over and over again.
When something occurs regularly enough, it’s only normal that people start using it as a prediction whenever a similar, or seemingly similar situation presents itself. And most of the times, this truth, this wisdom, remains true.
And yes, when met with physical, or other, discomfort, people easily fall back on clichés. And that is not necessarily a bad thing.
You can of course hate it, say that you should’ve known better, because, well, you’ve heard the sayings often enough.
I guess people just hate it, that, even though something that is so obvious, something that they’ve heard over and over again, still managed to sucker punch them.
But we’re all only human, right? No one is better, or smarter.
When push comes to shove, we all have to admit, we have all done our share bit of ‘stupid things’, we’ve all ‘known better with hindsight’.
So, you either stay bitter and hate the clichés or you can actually embrace old sayings, and learn from it, so that you can avoid having to go through the same thing again in the future.
Whenever you feel that, old sayings, folkloristic wisdom, helps you heal, helps get though whatever it is you need to go through, why not rely on it? It can give you insights, it can support you in accepting, or it can even be a practical cure you can implement.
Of course, one should never follow blindly what one used to do back in the days, as of course some things may have been proven wrong in time, but I think it’s safe to say that, most of the ancient knowledge is more than still accurate and safe to use. I would even go one step further and say, is advised to use. People were not less intelligent back in the days.
Modern science is very quick to think that they know better, that things have changed for the better. And very often they have made huge progress, and have come to very useful insights and discoveries. But I think it’s wise to remain humble, and open for other opinions and corrections to new findings. I always advise my sons, both very scientific-proof-seekers, to speak in terms of: “for as far as science has been able to prove until this day, this or that is what we claim to be as currently true, or known”. And as I, personally, believe in ancient wisdom, in alternative medicine, in energetic healing, … you can already imagine the very lively discussions we have here on a very regular basis, 🙂 and that is very healthy, as it keeps us on our toes, not indulging in thinking we (both sides) know all the answers.
I believe it’s very important that all forms of science, all forms of medicine, all forms of knowledge… should listen to each other, learn from each other, and become better and wiser because of it.
My invitation to you all today is:
Open your eyes to see all the beauty you have in your life.
There is so much, even in challenging situations.
Open your ears to hear all the wisdom there is to be heard.
Refrain from getting swept up in all the turmoil of gossip, sensational news, disasters, … go back to where real wisdom is to be found.
Read to learn about ancient peoples, ancient methods of healing, new discoveries, the richness of nature, the healing power of nature, …
There really are a lot of positive things to learn about.
Say grace every day.
There is always plenty in our lives to be grateful for.
Become quiet, every single day.
And bask in that silence, heal, rejuvenate.
Meditate.
Feel the calm coming over you, listen and hear the storm quieting down in your head.
Trust in a greater power.
Trust that all will be okay. Even though we may not know yet, how that ‘okay’ may look like, know that it will be okay.
Count your blessings.
Write them down. Read them out loud. Become very aware of them.
Say Thank You!
Feel the world becoming softer, quieter, gentler.
Let’s heal together.
Thank you all for reading me, and for supporting me on Medium! If you want unlimited access to all of my articles and to many other authors, you can become a Medium Member and you’ll be supporting me and all the other authors. Many, many thanks to you all!!!
Katrien
*”And Then Life Throws You a Curveball” by Katrien Degraeve.