Within the pain of being unwell; is the seed of the joy of getting better.

This quote came to me this week as my cat magic has an infection and after taking her to the vet I need to give her some topical antibiotic ointment. 

Since her ear was inflamed and sore, she didn’t want anything to go anywhere near her ears.  I’ve been having to administer this ointment, even though she’s been meowing and crying out. She’s now at the stage now where she’s getting better, and I’m able to touch her ears without causing her so much pain. The seed of the joy of getting better is opening.

This reminds me of a game that I often play with myself when I was studying nutrition, which in the past has been more of a physical level, but it’s starting to turn more into an emotional and spiritual level.

The game was that was that when I was sick, I used to love the project of ‘getting better’. It started when I was studying nutrition and I put everything I learnt into action, and loved seeing the improvements in myself. 

 And I was reflecting on how this can also work at an emotional, mental and spiritual level. It can be more difficult because if we’re mentally not feeling well, it’s harder to get ourselves ‘out of it’.  In this game, we really need to allow others in as part of the healing journey and to find the seed of “the joy of getting better”. 

This is why it can be so helpful to have other people holding us on the journey to remind us of the joy of getting well, that, even though sometimes we don’t want to expose our wounds and would be happier just to hide them, and let them fester. Almost like what was happening with my cats ear, if I didn’t push through in giving her the ointment, the wound would have festered and gotten worse. The discomfort of having the ointment applied was so worth it to be whole and healthy again.