Change. Its challenge lies in our
response to it and is not something inherent to change itself. The only way to make change manageable is by
relating to it differently.
A couple
of months ago, Stephen was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (I suspect triggered
by the flu shot he got late last year). We
were completely shocked by the diagnosis because he’s thin, fit, a healthful
eater, has no family history, and is over age 40, so he had none of the
predictors for any type of diabetes. The
first few days were swallowed up by urgent care and emergency room visits, so there
wasn’t time to sit down and process it all.
Since
then it’s occurred to me that this condition forces consciousness. Granted I’m
not the one enduring the changes to schedule and the disruption to my lifestyle,
but as our thoughts create our reality, what if we adopt the perspective that this
diagnosis is empowering?
Here’s
what I mean: every moment since before birth our organs and systems have been
working tirelessly carrying out vital life functions. Most of these functions
go unnoticed by us until there’s some malfunction. Developing a chronic condition like diabetes
requires that someone or Stephen, in this case, now has, for all intents and
purposes, to function as his pancreas.
From a mindfulness perspective this is an awakening. Not just in the sense of realizing life’s
impermanence, but also because it requires a more engaged and conscious
approach to living life. For instance: whereas
in the past, he might have been able to eat a slice of pizza and not wonder how
his body was digesting it, now he has to, in advance, be aware of what it takes
for the body to process a slice of pizza.
It’s
almost as if his world’s turned inside out.
Now every time he eats carbohydrates, he has to manually give himself
the insulin that his pancreas would have automatically squirted out to maintain
homeostasis. For those of us who don’t have diabetes, our pancreas continually produces
the right amount of insulin to allow our cells to use the sugar in our blood. So
whether we eat mindfully or indiscriminately, we aren’t reminded – except
perhaps with minor discomfort – of the ramification of our actions. We can continue mindless of the effort
exerted by the body to maintain balance.
For
Stephen, I see how he has to factor into his mind and day all that he’s doing,
eating and undergoing. Every bit of
exercise he does, food he eats, drink he imbibes, stress he undergoes, sleep he
loses, he can now read the effect in his blood glucose reading. Where my mind may peripherally or wholly miss
what’s going on in and around me, Stephen’s suddenly been given the power to
see the influence of his life choices on his body and mind. This is empowering because it helps with
making mindful choices.
Please
don’t misunderstand me –I’m not romanticizing the diabetic condition. It must surely be daunting to anticipate a
lifetime of pricking one’s fingers at least three times a day, finding non-scarred
fingertips for blood draws, figuring out meals and insulin dosages, searching
for new injection sites on the body, and always having snacks and glucose
boosters on hand.
In our
short experience with dealing with diabetes, it seems to me it provides the
opportunity to see the direct effect of our actions on ourselves. The upshot of this is that we can use
difficult situations such as learning we have a chronic condition, or other
admittedly destabilizing episodes like divorces and deaths, as a reminder to
keep an open mind.
Whether
we learn from a painful situation or not reveals much about ourselves. Trauma
and difficulty make us stronger. They
also show us where we are stuck in our reactivity, habits and mindset. One component of acceptance is dealing with
the physical demands of life changing episodes and another is facing and
working with its emotional toll. It is important to address all aspects of such
change.
As change
is a normal part of living, we can train ourselves to pay attention to whether
we embrace, reject or ignore the changes that arise in our life. Then we can practise developing a new
relationship to those things that we find difficult.
The best
way to form a new perspective on a sticky issue is to develop interest and
curiosity about it. Trying to look at what’s occurring with detachment, fosters
the ability to let go and to recognize what’s within our control and not in our
control. When you are able to do this,
you begin to expand your knowledge about life and yourself.
May you
be open to life’s constant change.
