On Saturday evening we, and by “we” I am referring to the Trodka Trio, gave an amazing performance for our “Black Sheep” concert. It was magical, and it felt the next day like we had put on a really good party with amazing friends. Some might feel, after something like that, like it is Boxing Day…complete with the big let-down after the Christmas shenanigans. But I did not. I was still basking in the glow of all the happy faces in the audience and all the heart energy that was erupting through the small auditorium.
So yesterday I decided to put all that good energy to use and complete the decorating for Halloween (my personal “most wonderful time of the year” season). I may not have mentioned this, by my partner, Rod, was born on October 31st. Can you believe it? A shaman is now with a partner that is a Halloween baby! How amazing is THAT? Now, whenever I am decorating for Halloween, he feels very special and that I am decorating for his birthday, which, technically, I actually am. Some folks born on that day, and I do know a few, get a wee bit resentful of the Halloween season and don’t like the decor or all the stuff that goes with it. This is much like those born on or near Christmas. But so far none of them have mentioned anything about getting combination birthday/Halloween gifts, unlike their Christmas-born brothers and sisters. So I don’t know what all the fuss is about. You can have a kick ass birthday party at Halloween and not have any conflict with the season. AND you can always go out trick-or-treating after your birthday cake, or before, or make it a part of the party! How cool is THAT?
So as I am finishing up the decorating, my step-son heads out for the day. Normally he gets to his car and then comes back in to get whatever he has forgotten…two or three times. This time, however, he gets in and drives away. This would not normally be an issue, just an unusual event. But this time it was problematic, because about 5 minutes after he left I went to go downstairs to the basement, slipped on the first step, and tumbled my way all the way down the 11 steps. Not 10 steps, not 12 steps. Eleven steps…count them. I have. And this time I counted them at a very fast speed as I rolled ass over tea kettle down the stairs. I also discovered that the chairs at the bottom of the stairs (this area also serves as a mini waiting room for my clients) have NO give whatsoever and actually hurt like hell when your body slams into them. I am very fortunate that I did not break anything on the way down. And Freddy, our muppet-like dog heard what happened and came running down to me. He was very concerned as I lay there groaning and swearing. No, I did not move at all at first. I wanted to make sure that everything was intact and that I had not broken anything and was not going to make anything worse while trying to move. So I lay there for about 5 eternal minutes assessing the situation.
Once I was able to move safely, I very carefully got myself upright and found my phone, which had ejected from my pocket during the fall, and then got myself back up the stairs, completely abandoning whatever it was that I had been going down to the basement to do. I took the usual steps that one takes in getting attended to after an accident and then, after an appointment that I drove myself to and back from, I lay on the bed with a massage wedge under my knees to relieve the pressure around the tailbone. That is where I was when Rod got home.
After getting up and sitting very gingerly and having a good cup of coffee, we decided that right after supper he would give me a Jin Shin Jyutsu treatment. I was still in a lot of agony by the time I got on his table, but it was AMAZING how quickly the pain began to ease and I could feel my spine adjusting on its own as he worked on me. If you have never had a Jin Shin Jyutsy treatment I encourage you to contact him and make an appointment. He is really quite incredibly good at it. By the end of the treatment I had no actual pain anymore. And today I still have yet to have any bruising…which may come, but may not.
Now, when things like this happen it is common practice for me to look into the “why?” Was it a lesson in slowing down? Was it a lesson in paying attention? Was it a lesson in self-care? Was it a lesson is receiving because I spend so much of my life giving? I believe that, to a certain extent, the answer to all of these questions is “YES”. Do I feel that some sinister outside force arranged this? No. Do I feel that I am a clumsy oaf? No. Do I feel that this was divinely arranged? NO. It is important to ask these questions though. And the answers, of course, will differ from one person to another. It is never our job to project our own answers on someone else’s process.
I feel that accidents happen. “Oh, but there ARE NO ACCIDENTS!” Ya, there are. What we DO with those accidents and how we learn from them is our personal slant on the art of transmutation. I do not personally believe in destiny or in a lack of universal free will. We are not drones that the Universe plays with on a cosmic chess board. We are aspects of the Universe itself. We have free will. We just don’t know it, or don’t care to accept it, because if we were to accept it this would mean that we have more responsibility, and that scares the shit out of most people. Being responsible for your own life, your own decisions, your own path means giving up the illusion of the matrix and ridding yourself of all the social, political, and personal clutter that gets in the way of your sovereign being. So yes, accidents happen, and yes, what we then do with that is important, but no, we are not universal pawns.
So, this morning I am choosing to NOT do my morning run because I know that this would ignite the injuries to the temple of my body. Yes, I am choosing to do some stretches gently so that I can help my body to stay limber and to heal. Yes, I will likely use CBD to ease any pain that comes up from within. And yes, I will be going to work because I do find that when doing energy balancing on another, I am also fed healing energy and that can only help with the healing process for me as well.
Sometimes the things that happen are incredibly joyful, like the concert experience. Sometimes the things that happen are incredibly painful, like the fall down the stairs. That is LIFE. We get to experience it all. ALL of it matters. We don’t pick and choose absolutely everything that is presented along our journey. We pick and choose how to respond to it; and the ability to respond is what responsibility actually is all about.