Disclaimer: I am not in perfect health. This is just sharing an experience that I think is really cool.
Back in 2020, my wife Rose and I were hiking in the rocky mountains.
Rose in the rockies
On one particular hike we went to a glacial lake in the middle of nowhere. I think after taking a plunge in the cold waters, I didn’t give my body a chance to warm up before venturing on. So just when we began the trek back down, I tweaked my knee. After about an hour, I also had an emotional meltdown to go alongside it as I knew how much further we had to go. And every time we took a step down it would hurt.
After this event, we took a few days off.
Eventually, as we were driving, there was a small hill near the road. We hiked up the hill. Now keep in mind my knee would really only flare up when we were going downhill. But we continued to climb. I wanted to turn around.
View from the small hill we climbed right before the healing event
When we got to the top of the hill, we ate some lunch and headed back down. As soon as we headed back down, I felt my knee twinge again and it started back up. Although the pain was the same. This time, though, I was slightly more prepared spiritually. I had given some thought to it.
The thing about pain is that it really screams for your attention. If you win the lottery and stub your toe right after, what will you be thinking of in that moment?
It takes a lot of intention and dedication to be able to overlook the pain into something else. I remember having a newfound sense of conviction. I thought to myself:
No matter what, I choose to see the beauty in this moment
My attention was immediately brought to the beautiful skyline. I looked and took it in in all its majesty. Then, another step. Ouch! But I repeated to myself
No matter what, I choose to see the beauty in this moment
I looked up again, enamored at the view. The pain of my knee was nothing compared to the beauty of the scenery. Then, something strange happened. Not only did the knee pain go away. It actually completely changed in quality. It went from being painful to being pleasurable. It was the strangest thing. It felt like every time I was taking I was getting a knee massage! It reminds me of this quote in A Course in Miracles:
Call pleasure pain, and it will hurt. Call pain a pleasure, and the pain behind the pleasure will be felt no more.
In any case, after that moment, my knee was completely fine. It never hurt again.
