10 life lessons from my autoimmune disorder (ITP) that helped me brave the Covid-19 pandemic
Series on Mental Health & Mindfulness
Faith is the bird that feels the light
when the dawn is still dark.
– Rabindranath Tagore
Hi,
Greetings for the day!
Hope all is well at your end. If this is your first read from this series, please start here. I’m sharing some essential life lessons from my autoimmune disorder, ITP, that has helped me and can help you too to sail through the Covid-19 pandemic with sanity.
Today, I’m here to tell you how much of a different person you become, for better, when you choose to have faith. Now, what does faith mean? Does it have to be anything to do with religion? What can one have faith in? Does it even work? When does faith become superstition? Read along to understand better.
Let me be honest. Faith doesn’t have to come overnight. It grows over you and when it does, it’s for eternity. But wait, the catch here is, unshakeable faith will grow over time while the first leap towards choosing to have faith in something/someone is your duty. To take that first leap towards having faith in someone/something, you don’t have to have proof. In one of my recent reads with my daughter, there’s this line that captures this well:
“But most importantly, faith means believing in something without proof that it is true.“
-From the book Ganesha’s Temple by Rohit Gaur
Now you may ask how can one have faith without any proof? Well, think of this. The first person who could have got the idea that the moon was something that can be reached or travelled to—instead of seeing it as some fancy art in a dark canvas—would have taken his first step (mere imagination) with the first leap of faith, sans any proof. While Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon can be science, the intuition or the feeling that made him risk getting on to the adventure ride is faith.
Faith doesn’t necessarily have to be religious. You don’t have to get into the debate of the presence of God or not. Faith is simple. It’s unshakable trust in something or someone—it can be in science, nature or the universal energy that makes the world go around. Or you can choose to have unshakable faith in words, your own self, or a supreme power that breathes life into us, call it anyway, God or anything. Name it/them anything, what matters is your unshakeable faith.
I tell this out of the experience, out of grace that is holding me together, safe and sane, till this breath. When I was faced with the fear of an incurable illness (ITP), my first instinct was to seek out answers through science, but in vain. And the more the data pointed out that there is no cure, it only caused more confusion and fear. It was difficult to process it all. That’s exactly when meditation happened. And I took my first leap of faith and since then there’s no turning back and never will be. What I have realized is faith acts as an anchor and makes you feel safe in any kind of storm. That’s exactly what we need to make life’s journey easier.
Faith is the forever friend that you need all through your journey.
I now say, what if science says there is no cure, I still have the choice to make lifestyle changes for a healthier and more fulfilling life. This change in mindset, this indescribable positive feeling is rooted in faith. It makes me better and humbler with every passing day and to experience this unfathomable feeling, you have to take that first leap of faith.
If there is a confusion lurking in your mind that doesn’t help you see the fine line between having faith and feeling superstitious, remember this, your leap of faith will make you feel free, and make you stronger over time while being superstitious will make you weak and bind you with limitations. Feel it. Listen to yourself to understand the difference. Have faith, you will learn with time.
I would like to leave you with this message that I happened to receive from a friend on WhatsApp today:
Nature never gives us a problem that cannot be handled. There is an energy that is always caring for you. When you connect with this loving, benevolent force, fear vanishes and you develop immense strength and depth.
-Author unknown
Stay safe, take care.
Blessed be.
‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.’.and also part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter.
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