Two weeks ago while on vacation in colorado skiing, with many exhilarating moments, i had one moment of a crash with resulting consequences. I broke the head of my humerus which is the part of the upper arm bone that goes into the shoulder and secondarily, contusions on my knee and ankle. Thankfully, i didn't need surgery, but the last two weeks have been very very slow. I am now walking and I smile, I walk like Thich Nhat Hanh, very very slow. I haven't been able to drive or move really well or should i say at all, and pain management requires a lot of concentration. I can't do much of what i usually do, anything to do with two hands, though right now i am typing! But each day I am getting better, remarkable. What a miracle the healing body is. Sickness can actually be much like meditation and the greatest teacher. Your life is stopped, or cessation of the schedule, for a chunk of time, and the naked truth of life shows through.
One thing I have been able to do is meditate in a chair and write haiku. I am a member of Insight Haiku group which is on the app Insight Timer and having a lot of fun with writing haiku. In the spirit of fun, I share my rather poorly conceived haikus that i have written while being in a broken bone hiatus of my life.
Broken bones happen
slowing my pace to naught
Life stript to beauty
slowed down by sickness
pain pivots into beauty
Time to see spring come
This minutes small growth
Broken shoulder draining ache
healing miracles
Silhouettes of trees
against silver lime sky
squirrels and birds move
The dog and I look
out the window together
communion in Now
Labels: haiku, sickness and practice, sickness as a teacher