Same Team

There I was sitting in the podiatrists office waiting to have a nagging and disruptive wart removed from the underside of my pinkie toe. I wasn't nervous or frightened about the procedure, partly because I would be numb for the whole thing but also because it had been causing me so much agony that I simply couldn't wait to be rid of it no matter what the cost. By allowing it to get to the point that it had - that being a small iceberg upon which I stepped with every pace - it had taken over half of my little toe pad and bore down on the nerve. This had created a cascading effect up the right side of my body from the awkward way that I had to walk. It seemed as though all the issues in my body could be traced to this problem, and by god we were going to fix it here and now!
There were two small injections in the top of the toe to numb it up for surgery and the good doctor left the room to attend to another patient while it did so. I sat in consciousness with my toe going over the procedure in my head and directing that calming energy into the area that was rapidly dissolving into numbness. "We are getting rid of that wart that has been giving us such trouble. It won't hurt at all now and I'm going to watch the whole thing so we know exactly what happened. This is a good thing, we'll feel much better after this." Now, I realize that this seems a little out there. Here I am, talking to my toe and walking it through the steps of the surgery and recovery, and reassuring it that it will be better. Sure, it sounds a bit crazy, but my body and I are on the same team. When it is forcibly removed from the consciousness of an event like foot surgery I want some kind of record that it can access to know what happened when it comes to. That is why I insisted on watching the procedure, so that my body could understand. Think it's silly?
This is the same concept that I draw from when working with a motor vehicle accident client. One of the first questions I ask relevant cases is "did you see the accident coming?" If the answer is yes then there is a good chance the individual had a moment to tense up and resist the crash, which can cause more damage in some cases because the body tried to fight against a force that it can't overcome, but at least it has a record of the event. If the answer is no then the body might have been loose and had the opportunity to ride through the momentum of the crash. Unfortunately, in the latter situation the body doesn't have a recollection as to what happened and is most likely operating from a fear based position, wondering when another accident will hit. It can be nerve wracking walking around with our adrenal glands functioning that high all the time, anticipating another event to be scared of but not knowing when it will happen. By witnessing the accident the mind and body store the memory to learn from; therefore, they are less likely to be so reactionary to everything, perhaps only to a similar situation that mimics the original cause.
In either event, whether it be having a wart removed or getting into a car accident or the thousand and one things in between remember that you and your body are on the same team. When the mind is unconscious the body covers for it: it remembers to breathe and keep the heart beating, it engages muscles at precise timing to get you from point A to point B, it reminds you of your limits with indicators like pain, strain and weaknesses, and it holds onto the memories and stress that you don't want to deal with at the moment. When the body needs to be unconscious for surgeries and the like it's the minds turn to cover it. Be present with your body and honor the things it does so willingly for you, beloved, and it will carry you through every time.
Three days after surgery now, I have had almost no pain during recovery and I can feel my body getting ready to move forward like that little wart never slowed us down in the first place. It pays to be strange!