Working with what we have

Someone just asked me how I got through the challenges of my own illness – here’s my reply:

One of the first things I learnt when I was struggling with low energy levels, muscle pain and more, was not to struggle!

Struggling wastes energy. Getting angry wastes energy, so does getting upset or frustrated. Though my condition wasn’t diagnosed as CFS, it mirrored many of the symptoms of CFS, and on the days when fatigue wiped away any notion of going anywhere, I would not let it add to that sentence “and doing anything.”

I might physically be going nowhere, but the rest of my life was moving as best it could. I got a marker pen and wrote on the whiteboard in my little home office “do what you can, where you are, with what you have” and, to the best of my ability I did. When I was in my office and able to write or work on the recording projects I was engaged in at that time, I would read my message and try to live it. On the days when I didn’t even see my office because I was stuck in bed, I’d realise all I could do was rest, and I’d try and do that well, and that meant no seething under the sheets that I wasn’t somewhere else, doing something else. I was here and I had to do the best I could with that.

Some days I was better at it than others, but that was always my motto, and I believe it helped get me through.

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More on Meditation

People who meditate say the practice restores their energy, and some claim they need less sleep as a result. Many studies have reported that the brain works differently during meditation – brainwave patterns change and neuronal firing patterns synchronise. But whether meditation actually brings any of the restorative benefits of sleep has remained largely unexplored.

Extract from: Meditation builds up the brain  15 November 2005 NewScientist.com news service

According to Chinese medicine we are born with an allotment of vital energy (chi or qi), this energy is inherited from our parents and varies according to their strength and vitality and the health of the mother during pregnancy. Many of us don’t give it a second thought, we just live with what we have, spending our energy daily to greater or lesser degrees. By the time we reach middle age we expect to slow down a bit and maybe start getting some aches and pains. But this need not be the case. Vital energy can be acquired. We get it from the air we breathe and from our food – the fresher the better. Another excellent way to build energy reserves is meditation. We understand that meditation conserves energy by reducing stress and anxiety, but Chinese medicine teaches that it can build energy too.
> Related posts:
Easy Meditation – a brain fog friendly guide

Technorati Tags: fatigue, meditation, energy, meditate, fatigued, Chronic fatigue syndrome, stress

Easy Meditation – a brain fog friendly guide

No matter how fatigued we might feel, I believe there is always something we can do. During my days and weeks under the duvet, I would daydream or meditate, and use the time to feel as rested and comfortable as I could.

Lotus position? I don’t think so…. not with aching muscles and zero energy – here’s a very quick and simple intro to an meditation technique you can try anywhere, and if that means laying in bed – so be it.

Close your eyes if you can without nodding off, and breathe steadily in and out. Count to four as you breathe in, hold your breath for the count of four, breath out for the count of four, and hold again for four, then repeat. As you do so try and concentrate on the sound of your breath. You’ll soon notice that inhaling sounds different to exhaling. That’s it. Try it for 10 or more minutes at a time. Meditating regularly is know to help the body heal and cope with fatigue. Practising regularly is believed to be a way of preserving what energy is already present in the body and acquiring more. It also reduces stress and anxiety.

“The secret for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” the Buddha

Technorati Tags: CFS, Chronic fatigue syndrome, energy, fatigue, fatigued, fibromyalgia, fibromyalgia syndrome, meditation, stress

The Syndrome Word & a Supportive Read

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia Syndrome – why the syndrome word? What does it mean and why is it used?
Dr Don Goldenberg explains:

“Illnesses such as fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome have no structural basis, but physiological changes in function are present. These illnesses are appropriately cased functional syndromes.”

Some feel that the term syndrome makes light of what can be serious and life-altering symptoms. But it’s not with the voice of dismissal that Goldenberg uses and explains the term as appropriate. Dr Goldenberg lives with fibromyalgia and is well aware from personal experience of the pain and fatigue it entails. His book, Fibromyalgia: Understanding and Getting Relief from Pain That Won’t Go Away, is an excellent reference for anyone wanting a well-informed and sympathetic medical perspective with the understanding voice of someone who really does know how you feel.

“Fibromyalgia: Understanding and Getting Relief from Pain That Won’t Go Away” (Don L. Goldenberg)

> Related posts:
CFS Diagnosis Frustrations
What’s in a name? CFS vs M.E. the definition debate

Technorati Tags: fibromyalgia, CFS, Chronic fatigue syndrome, fatigue, syndrome, fatigued, fibro, pain relief, fibromyalgia syndrome