A SUMMER OF DISCOMFORT

Autumn is here in South Texas and after a string of rainless 100 degree temperatures it couldn't be more welcome. Even down here fall is transition time. After being kept in with swollen, painful feet it was my summer of discomfort.  Just in time for fall I am beginning to walk with only minimum pain.  To be out working a little in our yard I am finding new freedom.  I am also able to look back at whatever went "wrong" and see what I have learned and can still learn from it.  That learning involved recognizing whatever the pain was about, it helped me connect with my deeper self. On my good days, at least, I could see that beyond the physical pain was spiritual peace and comfort. I just had to realize that only my negative thoughts about it made the pain worse. It is like Jesus saying to turn the other cheek. That was not practical advice; it was parable, metaphor. What it means for me today is to not take the painful feet too seriously. Whatever happens to them happens only to my outer shell.  What I do with my inner self, beneath my thoughts and other interpretations, determines whether my summer of discomfort is over and I do not carry it  over to a "winter of discontent."