P
ain can be a signal to grow, not necessarily to suffer. Once we learn the lesson that the pain teaches us, the pain goes away.
I played football for 13 years. My dreams of being an NFL star were on the horizon when I was hit in a practice tackling drill. My eye drooped, I experienced speech loss, my right side was numb and my right arm dangled at my side. My arm stayed numb and hung helplessly at my side for well over a year. It was a physical injury but it affected my whole life. Being right-handed, I couldn’t write, and the constant pain made concentration on work impossible. I didn’t have control over my muscle spasms, and every now and then my nerves would unexpectedly twinge and contract my shoulder, which whipped my arm out! One night, I knocked a bowl of dressing off the diner table, and my younger brother showed up to the next meal wearing a batting helmet and goggles! I went to 16 of the best doctors in North America and they all concluded I would never recover. My dreams were shattered, my heart was broken and my life slowly fell apart.
Although I kept playing ball, I had to play with my arm strapped to my side. Eventually I had to give it up and I hit rock bottom. Totally confused and depressed, I decided to take my life. Obviously I didn’t and today I enjoy a 95 percent recovery. So what three things did I learn from this experience and how does it relate to you?
1) I kept playing football – even though there was a chance for total paralysis – because I was unable to let go of the past. We’ve all been raised to believe that what we’ve been in the past makes us who we are. No matter what our past has been, we have a spotless future. Only when I let go of the past did I become emotionally available to embrace change, dream a new dream and get on with her life. I learned that we cannot and should not a cling to the past. Lesson: When your horse died, dismount!
2) Why would I want to quite or kill myself? I was somebody because I was an athlete. When I was injured, suddenly I was a nobody. Why? When we identify ourselves in terms of what we do, instead of who we are, we become a human doing instead of a human being. If lasting happiness is what we seek, we must realize we are not our bodies, our sport cars, our houses or our country club memberships. Lesson: We must be more than those superficial things!
3) Why didn’t I quit? I stopped focusing on having fame and started focusing on being whole. I started focusing on obvious purposes instead of just setting goals. I listened to a Zig Ziglar tape on motivation which inspired me to start dreaming again. He taught "If you don't have a dream, how are you going to make a dream come true?" That fired me up to do whatever it took to get better physically.
This significant awakening taught me a philosophy that affects my life each and every day. Lesson: It is summarized by J. Stone, who says:
The most visible creators are those artists whose medium is life itself. The ones who express the inexpressible without brush, hammer, clay, or guitar. Their medium is being. Whatevern their presence touches has increased life. They see and don't have to draw. They are the artists of being alive.