Before you read further, stand up, stretch your arms toward the ceiling, put them down comfortably at your side, then close your eyes for 15 seconds (Yes, I mean it …I’ll wait … :^)
A week ago, I would not have been able to do that. As I reached for the ceiling, it would have begun to whirl around, and if I dared to close my eyes, I would have had to grab a chair or the desk to keep my balance. I couldn’t roll over in bed without feeling like the room was spinning. I was baffled by this vertigo that seemed to come and go over the past 2 years, and that was treated repeatedly and unsuccessfully by my docs as an ear infection.
But this week, I can walk a straight line, close my eyes without losing my balance, reach for the ceiling, and roll over in bed without symptoms. The problem was tiny crystals in my inner ear that had somehow wedged their way out of where they were supposed to be and were causing havoc by being in the wrong place. A 5 minute procedure called the Epley Maneuver put them back in place (http://www.neuroanatomy.wisc.edu/selflearn/BPPV.htm).
As a result of this miraculously simple treatment, I am filled once again with gratitude to God who created our astonishingly complex bodies and gave us the intellect to discover what can restore us to health.
Wonder, awe, surprise, astonishment. Such tiny miracles there are in each day. Miracles like walking sure-footed without fear of falling. Miracles like having eyes that see letters on a page and a brain that perceives meaning in the patterns of pixels. Miracles like the calm that replaces anxiety when we breathe slowly and deeply, recognizing that with each breath we are breathing in the breath of God.
I am grateful today to walk sure-footed, to feel rooted and grounded, to feel certain of my steps. How easy it is to take for granted such simple miracles. A yoga teacher of mine, many years ago, suggested that we buy a strip of tiny colored adhesive dots—the kind you find at an office supply store that are no more than a quarter of an inch in diameter—and go around our houses putting a small dot here and there where we are likely to see it sometime during the day: in the corner of the bathroom mirror…on the inside of the cabinet where we keep our morning coffee mugs…on the wood trim surrounding the door we use to get to the car…on the clock radio by our bed. Whenever we notice one of our dots, we are to stop what we are doing and breathe slowly as we let ourselves become gratefully aware of our surroundings.
I haven’t done that in a long time, but today I will buy some dots. I want to be more aware of the tiny miracles that I take for granted. So when you see my little red dots…take a breath and be grateful!
Open my eyes,
O God,
to the marvels that surround me.
Show me the wonder
of each breath I take,
of my every
thought,
word
and movement.Rebbe Nachman of Breslov
The Gentle Weapon
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