10 life lessons from my autoimmune disorder (ITP) that helped me brave the Covid-19 pandemic
Series on Mental Health & Mindfulness
Gratitude gives the wings to fly
while making sure our ego is grounded.
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.
For a long, I wanted to do a series of awareness posts on ITP, but ITP had its own way of disposing of my plans. I tried penning down this series in the month of April this year but in vain. In fact, two weeks back when I started with this series, just 2-3 days into posting my blogs, I found my body going weak with a flare-up of inflammation and some gum bleeds. It’s the flexibility to post multiple blogs in a single day that gave me the possibility to take a rest, slow down and come up with posts over the weekend. And if there is something that I keep reminding myself of while going through this cycle of highs and lows, it is certainly gratitude. This very post, talking to you right now, is a very essential learning from my autoimmune disorder, i.e.to be grateful.
Gratitude keeps one grounded. I would like to share one of my favourite (ok all are favourites but this is revisited way too often) poems from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali, here:
My desires are many and my cry is pitiful, but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals, and this strong mercy has been wrought into my life through and through.
Day by day thou art making me worthy of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest to me unasked-this sky and the light, this body and the life and the mind-saving me from perils of overmuch desire.
There are times when I languidly linger and times when I awaken and hurry in search of my goal, but cruelly thou hidest thyself from before me.
Day by day thou art making me worthy of thy full acceptance by refusing me ever and anon, saving me from perils of weak, uncertain desire.
Trust me when I say only from a lived experience of many a denial that one can enjoy and appreciate this piece from Gitanjali in its full essence. We are quick to whine and crib about our misfortunes (from our perspectives) without even giving it a try to look at the experience or situation objectively. It’s human nature to do so but if we wish to rise above being just human (limited to body consciousness), we may start looking for meaning even in misfortunes. The effort and realization may take time, over months or decades too but with time we get to understand some denials are from the best intentions.
This might sound philosophical but it’s true and very much possible if you keep the possibilities open. As you might know by now from the previous posts, I did whine and crib and was very much in denial of the ITP thing. Did it do any good? NO. When the perspectives shifted and when I started seeking meaning, I realized many of the denials that came my way, say in terms of movement or food intake or choice of career or even in terms of energy levels, etc., everything turned out to be for my best. And it’s after years that I had this realization. If I had not been denied of many things that look precious but are actually superficial, I wouldn’t have been at a place to live life consciously and with contentment today.
So yes, it’s with all kind of experiences that we become the best version of ourselves, and not with just what you feel and label as a positive experience. And if we have an objective mind, an intention to learn and gratitude at heart, it only becomes easier to process and navigate through every experience. I would just want to leave you with a final thought to practise gratitude every day, consciously, be it through prayers or mediation or saying blessings to yourself and people around or journalling or in any way you may wish to. But make sure you practise gratitude every day and enjoy the blissful experience that comes with it.
As this series comes to an end today, I hope you found this useful as much as I found it useful as gentle reminders to help me sail through tough times. Let’s hope for a healthier post-pandemic lifestyle and attitude grounded in love and gratitude.
This series would be incomplete if I don’t extend my sincere gratitude for Blogchatter to provide this platform, to my family for always being there, to every one of you who took time to read and connect and to my dear friends Sini & Roshna who held me through the days of lows and gently pushed me to get back on my toes and of course for happily helping with their creative lettering images for this series.
Everything said and done, none of this could have materialized if not for the Divine’s plan. Ever grateful. 🙏
Stay safe, take care.
Blessed be.
P.S. Feel free to connect over email if you may need or wish to: promisingpoetry5@gmail.com
‘This post is a part of Blogchatter Half Marathon.’.and also part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter.
