Karmic tail 18-3-12: Suffering of the body

In this life

At the slightest risk to health, panic rises. Even the illness or pain of a loved one becomes unbearable, to the point that the person pulls away and offers no help. To an outside observer, this distance looks harsh, because no one knows the deep wounds that explain it. The other extreme exists too: making your body a testing ground and constantly pushing its limits, for example with excessive loads in high-level sport or unusual practices in yoga or elsewhere. One day, the limit is crossed and health truly suffers. Taking care of yourself gently and rethinking how you live then makes it possible to rebuild, and afterward what you learned about recovering will need to be shared with others. If these stages pass smoothly and then fall into oblivion, and the flight from suffering, even other people’s, starts again, life brings you back to it. According to the method, this may happen especially after forty, when a loved one goes through a serious illness: they expect less in the way of care than the right words of support. Lived together, this inner growth helps get through the ordeal.

The lesson

According to the method, the lesson is to care for the body without neglecting the growth of the soul. It is recommended to volunteer, or to get involved in some other way, with people living with a disability or a physical illness. By helping them face their trials, you move past your own fears. It is also important to acquire psychological tools to accompany these people in hard moments. The method does not rule out a path in writing: stories, screenplays, or tales that carry a lesson.

They try to give themselves worth by helping others, even if it means exhausting themselves and drawing on resources they do not have.

The signals

• Victim stance
• Urge to help without having the strength
• Refusal to see others suffer
• Irritation at a loved one’s illness
• Sinking into illness and dark thoughts
• A body that reacts quickly to emotions
• Relationships where you endure, or else rescue
• Need for others to sympathize
• Physical limits
• Loved ones living with a disability
• Fear of being ill, of no longer being able to move, of death

You keep looking after your health, but you add a practice that nourishes the soul. You choose a volunteer commitment, or another form of presence, with people affected in their bodies, and you discover, in supporting them, that your own fears recede. You train in a few psychological tools to know what to say and how to accompany people in difficult moments. And if the urge arises, you turn this experience into stories, screenplays, or tales that pass on a lesson.

The steps

• Add a practice of inner growth to your body care
• Join an organization that supports people who are ill or disabled
• Take a course in listening or psychological support
• Note the fears that recede over the course of this commitment
• Write a story or tale drawn from what you are living