Читать книгу Above and Beyond - J.S. Dorian - Страница 16

“Experience has taught me this, that we undo ourselves by impatience. Misfortunes have their life and their limits, their sickness and their health.”

MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE

For sound and practical reasons, many of us have committed ourselves to living life a day at a time. Experience has taught us that this is the most effective way to remain in the present, and to avoid fearful mental sojourns into the past or future.

However, those among us who suffer from chronic pain can easily become discouraged when applying the one-day-at-a-time approach to rehabilitation, especially if we tend to have more “bad days” than “good days.” Because we so desperately want our pain to diminish, we work hard at our healing and rehabilitation programs. We expect to feel better tomorrow or within a few days—certainly by the end of the month—and when we don’t, we become disappointed and angry.

The point is that, yes, in many areas we should try to live one day at a time, but in certain illness-related areas it is also important to cultivate a long-term approach. Since the dramatic improvement we seek may not come in eight weeks or eight months, we might be better served by visualizing freedom from pain and its limitations occurring a year, two years, or even three years down the road.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

High hopes and realistic expectations.