I notice I close my eyes a lot these days…
When I am in physical pain.
I close my eyes.
When I am hurt emotionally.
I close my eyes.
When I am mad.
I close my eyes.
When I am sad.
I close my eyes.
When I am frustrated.
I close my eyes.
When I am tired… exhausted.
I close my eyes.
When I need to think.
I close my eyes.
When my heart is feeling scratched and torn.
I close my eyes.
When I feel disrespected and I am about to lose my mind.
I close my eyes.
When I am talking and I’m not being heard.
I close my eyes.
When I need to take a mental break.
I close my eyes.
I find myself thinking what it must feel like to be blind…. memorizing my surroundings and taking mental note of what I want to remember. Visualizing in my mind the environment I want to keep in my memory if I am not able to see.
What is this about? I have no idea. I have just noticed that more and more in the last six months, it is a physical response that I have started to use. It was not something intentional, but also not something I decided I didn’t like. I like it. I like that it makes me stop and take a moment to close the world out and take a break. It tells me… “don’t lose control…. just take a moment and get it together.” This life or any life is not easy. God did not put us on earth for “easy”, we are all here for different reasons. If we accept that and stop fighting it, then life becomes easi-“er”.
I believe I know why I am here. I am put in situations and I help out where I am needed. In the end I am definitely rewarded. God is good to me. As long as I look at the big picture and don’t just think about “ME”, I do well. This life is not about me.
It’s interesting, I got up this morning, to write about something completely different. God certainly does work in mysterious ways.
I hope you enjoyed this post, please leave your comments.
Stay cool and have a happy Easter!
my foggy brain 
As long as you’re not driving a car or walking in traffic, closing your eyes is a very healthy and effective tool. It allows you to disassociate yourself from everything external and get in touch with what is happening inside of yourself. And if you actually try to focus on each and every part of your body, one part / one function at a time while your eyes are closed it is very possible to learn how to actually control certain functions that we generally think of as being out of our conscious control (such as your heart beat, body temperature, brain waves, and even pain).
I learned how to do this more than 30 years ago when I was working with a doctor doing research into brainwave biofeedback. I learned how to recognize when I was about to have a seizure and how to prevent it from actually coming on or at least lessen the severity. I also learned how to relax myself so completely and take my consciousness to “another place” to the extent that I have undergone major surgery (removal of several pre-cancerous lumps in my breasts as well as breast reduction) without any anesthetic.
It is hard to explain how to do it as the actual process is different for everyone. It is essentially self-hypnosis which is the same as putting yourself in a deep, meditative state. It’s not a cure-all (as it doesn’t actually “cure” any organic ailment) but it most definitely can help you gain some control over how your conscious and unconscious mind reacts (or doesn’t react) to both internal and external factors that would otherwise be unbearable or very unpleasant. I don’t know if Kaiser still offers this (I know that they did years ago) but it might be worthwhile to ask if they have brainwave biofeedback therapy (they may have it regularly for either stroke victims, those suffering migraines, or epilepsy and simply not thought of it for use with those suffering Fibromyalgia.)
If Kaiser doesn’t have it, check if there are any Cancer Support centers in your town (generally these are free) as a lot of them offer classes teaching meditation skills for the specific purpose of pain management.
Good Luck to You!
Leslie
IconDoIt – The Blog
That is very cool, I just completed the 10 week Level II Pain Program through Kaiser which was AWESOME!!! I know what you are talking about, I’ll look into it. Thank you for the advice and stopping by!
Hi there! Just wanted to stop by and what a beautiful post. Really pretty. I think I might practice this myself. I saw your comment on my blog and thank you.
I am not feeling so great right now, just closed my eyes for a second… hoping I will be better and soon able to read from my favorite blogs, yours being one of them of course.
Have a very blessed day!
dogkisses.
Wonderful and beautiful writing. I often close my eyes for the same reasons. I like it too. It is so cool that you were aware enough of closing your eyes that you could write specifically about it. Thanks so much because you put into words something that I too have been doing a lot of. It takes me to a peaceful place. I meditate a lot with my eyes closed but sometimes I like to lay down and just close my eyes. I do it when I am waiting someplace and I do it throughout the day for reasons unknown. I do know I like it though. Thanks so much for writing this, I will always think of it when I close my eyes. Will be looking over your blog in more detail in the next few days. Thanks for being you and I sincerely mean that.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that you took the time to leave your comments. Stay cool!
I loved this blog! Wonderful! It is hard not to always think about “me” when you are in constant pain….I believe God put us here for a purpose…to help others…in some way…and we will be better off if we try to think of “others” instead of ourselves….thank you for sharing this!
Tammy
http://spicyt.wordpress.com
Tammy, Thank you for always leaving such kind words on my blog. Very cool of you!