Pain in the...

Back! Lower back. Like knives in my back. Slipped disc? Pinched nerve. I don’t know. But it hurts. Badly.

It has been a crazy busy month. Every week it’s been a flight to one coast or the other, and on one occasion coast to coast in consecutive days. That Southwest A-List Preferred is coming in handy (my humble version of “First Class”).

So, maybe it’s the flights. Contorting my 6’3” frame into small seats, flight after flight, maybe it took its toll?

Or maybe it’s just my age. I’m weeks shy of 52, and this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with back issues. Maybe it’s just part of my age?

No. I’m not buying it. It’s something else.

It’s deeper. It’s personal. It’s sitting there, under the surface, waiting to be released.

I think the pain is mental, emotional, metaphysical. I feel like I have manifested and am carrying some version of the collective pain our nation…or world is feeling right now. No matter your beliefs, or politics…everyone is tight, tense…anxious. And what does the body do when you “carry” that tension for too long…

Owwwww!!!!!!

Pain in the…

For me, my back. For you, where are you carrying your pain? If you’re not, how are you processing everything you’re noticing and feeling in the world, moving through it, and letting it go? How are you doing it? Seriously. Please e-mail me and share your tips.

As I search for relief, a position of ease, or a momentary break from knife stabbing pain, I am trying to take accountability of what I am carrying in my thought. Who am I blaming? God forbid, who am I hating? Where am I tense and constricted?

I am praying, listening, reflecting. I am breathing and releasing…releasing…releasing…release…

Author and all-around inspiration superstar Iyanla Vanzant once said, “The word ‘pain” is a reminder to ‘Pay Attention Inward Now. P.A.I.N.”

So instead of blaming or complaining, I am paying attention inward. Can I release resentment? Can I surrender anger? Can I inhale peace and exhale hatred?

Even as I write this I feel my back open, expand, and breathe. It’s releasing…releasing…releasing…

Are you carrying around any unnecessary pain? If so, pay attention inward…

Now!

-Travis