First a story... Dear Sir: I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Block #3 of the accident reporting form. I put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient. I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over which when weighed later were found to weigh 240 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley which was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Securing the rope at ground level, I went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to insure a slow descent of the 240 lbs of bricks. You will note on the accident reporting form that my weight is 135 lbs. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor abrasions and the broken collarbone, as listed in Section 3, accident reporting form. Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley which I mentioned in Paragraph 2 of this correspondence. Fortunately by this time I had regained my presence of mind and was able to hold the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I was now beginning to experience. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground-and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs. I refer you again to my weight. As you might imagine, I began a rapid descent down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body. Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel seemed to slow me enough to lessen my injuries when I fell into the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain, unable to move and watching the empty barrel six stories above me, I again lost my composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope. As funny as this story is, the lesson is a man that is not attached to the injuries but sees his mistakes and the consequences of his choices. He will probably heal and move on in life with no attachment to what happened. Many times we suffer injury, disease, accidents and traumatic life experiences and are not able to let go of the story. We play it over and over in our heads and repeat it to anyone that asks and hear the doctors, therapists, family and friends tell others how much we have suffered as a result of ______________. We feel a sense of betrayal or injustice and keep asking, "Why me?" As harmless as it sounds, it is actually causing your body to react physically and chemically to the trauma again, again and again. This means there is emotion, stress hormones, increase in heart rate and mild shock responses that you go through each time your relive the experience. People that have had cancer do not want to be called victims because that paints a picture or weakness when a fight against this disease takes warrior spirit and being called a survivor is much more empowering. Reliving trauma causes you and others to start seeing yourself as a victim instead of someone that has over come a challenge. Begin to see pain, accident, disease, trauma as an opportunity and you will increase your chances of healing. Sound crazy? No. This is an opportunity to give your body what it needs; rest, change in environment, better nutrition, more exercise, etc. Dr. Bernie S. Siegel, M.D., realized this when he was working with cancer patients and wrote an amazing book about his experiences. "Love, Medicine & Miracles" From my own experience, I have seen clients that seem to suffer more than most with injuries, health problems and disease. As I listen to their story, I see and feel their body respond to what they are saying. Muscles tighten, faces pale, tears well up, pain increases...they can't heal because the problem keeps being relived over and over. They are stuck in the past and can't move out of their suffering. The more we think about something, the bigger chance of attracting that into our lives and if you continually thing of yourself as your injury, disease, pain or trauma, you will attract more into your life. This I see more times than not. One injury or pain becomes another and another until they believe "this is my nature", or "I am my mother's cancer", or "I deserve this", etc. So, while the story was funny, life can be tough and full of hurt. Be a warrior. Fight. Look for the opportunity to heal and listen to your body. No one can do that for you because only you truly know what you need. Don't buy into the labels that family, friends or the medical community wants to put you into. You are an amazing and beautiful person that is temporarily having a solvable problem and just need the time and resources to do that. I love what I do and feel I am doing what I was born to do. There was a lot of pain and suffering involved in my learning that, but I refuse to be judged by my past and continue to learn how to realign my future with my reason for being. Without the pain and suffering I wouldn't be who I am or know what I know, so for that I am grateful. I am here to facilitate your healing and even though I can't do the hard work for you, I here to help. Want to know how to relieve stress and anxiety? Only concentrate on one thing right NOW. What does that mean? Do you have a big event coming up? Debts, health concerns, big trip or family gathering and you are feeling overwhelmed by all the things you have to do to get ready and prepare? STOP! Break it down into one thing at a time and stop thinking about the whole big mess. Right now, do one thing that is part of what you need to do. Need to clean the house but don't have all day to do it? Clean the bathroom. It is the smallest and quickest to clean. Tomorrow clean another room and only worry about that. Want to lose 30 pounds? Work on just what you can do today for 10 minutes; go for a walk, eat less at one meal or eliminate one thing from your diet. We lose momentum and increase our rate of failure because too many times we make the big picture SO BIG and HUGE, that it just seems too much and too hard to accomplish. By just focusing on the next step, right now, you make it smaller, easier and begin to see that you CAN do it. Want to begin a stretching program? Awesome! Do 5 minutes when you wake up and it is done for the day and you will notice a difference in your day. Here are stretching videos to help you, just click on the link: Stretching Videos I am reading a great book that talks about this problem and easy solutions, "Excuses Be Gone!" by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I highly recommend it. |
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