Recently my yoga instructor encouraged the class to, “Go for stillness and solidity” while in a balancing pose. I tuned into her putting stillness and solidity together as if one couldn’t do without the other. I usually think of one or the other. Hmm…how to achieve both? Especially now.

In light of recent world events there’s more a chaotic churning of sadness than a peaceful stillness. And that’s delicate jelly inside, poised to collapse into despair with the tiniest touch; solidity nowhere to be found.

How to gain the soul-strengths of stillness and solidity with the mess going on inside ?

Uncertain, in the dark, I begin in a place that I could not ignore—the place of pain.

Noticing the pain in my inner left thigh would not go away no matter how much I stretched it or my massage therapist treated it, I decided to visit my acupuncturist who has an uncanny knack for figuring out my body’s signals. He doesn’t say anything as he inserts needles so I ask out of curiosity, “What meridian is it?” “Spleen,” he responds.

I take that bit of information back to my massage therapist who told me she was working on her Spleen meridian as well lately. Interesting “coincidence” which I duly note. My pain is a terrific jump-start for synergistic connections. Always has been. And because I forget this, I’m always surprised.

Back home, deciding to follow the coincidence to where it would lead, I pulled out the magnificent book, The Joy of Feeling by Iona Marsaa Teeguarden, creator of the healing system, Jin Shin Do®.  I don’t know much about it or how or why it works. But I usually find nuggets of helpful information and this time was no exception:

“Extreme sympathy is injurious to the stomach and spleen-pancreas…concern can arise to call our attention to something that needs to be dealt with…Over-concern is being too plugged into something or someone. Over-concern is a natural response to perplexing problems. It is an attempt at doing something about the problem but ironically, excessive concern can actually create problems.” (p. 202)

How true! As an empath, I feel things deeply. But now my body was clearly telling me: “Be sympathetic, yes…but not overly sympathetic or your own healing will be stymied and then you can’t do anything to contribute to anyone’s healing, either.”

I remember a similar deep discomfort within after theColumbine tragedy. I was a basket case. I cried for days. Then I got angry that such a thing could happen. Then I felt profound sympathy for the parents of both the shooters and the victims. A strong urge to do something rose up in me and with that passion for action, I realized I was finally back to center—not forgetting, but no longer paralyzed within over-sympathy and over-concern.

In essence, my pain propelled me to create the Parent Coaching Institute.

And now, as I ponder this new, yet familiar pain and examine it, like a precious crystal, from all angles, and learn from it like a long time wise friend, I’m thankful it points out: “I help you get back on the path to stillness and solidity and the good that awaits. Trust me.”

Copyright, Gloria DeGaetano, 2016. All rights reserved.