Catching Monkeys

There is a wonderful story about an African tribe and their technique for catching monkeys. They put something monkeys love to eat in a jar with an opening just big enough for the monkey's hand to slip inside. The monkeys come, insert their hands, and grasp the treat but they are unable to pull their hands out while holding the treat. The monkeys become so engrossed in trying to get the treat that they do not see the hunters and are caught!

When we are diagnosed with chronic illness, we desperately want to have our old life back. We long for it. We hold on to how we used to be. We put our hand in the jar of the past and refuse to let go. We get stuck. We get caught in the past. And all that thinking, wishing, and grasping is stressful. Stress makes us sicker, no matter what condition we have.

Once we manage to let go of how we used to be, we have empty hands that can be filled with something new. Once we let go of who we used to be, we are free to become a new person, to recreate ourselves.

What would your life be like if you stopped trying to go back to the way you were before you got sick? What would your life be like if you took stock of who you are and what you can do right now and used that as building blocks for your new life?

"If you are breathing, there is more right with you than there is wrong." Joan Borysenko