A Very Pleasant Thing

Today I am in quite a bit of pain. For once, it’s not just emotional or metaphysical pain, but my tooth actually hurts. I haven’t had to deal with something like this for a while. I thought maybe writing about it would take my mind off of it.

Thích Nhất Hạnh created something called the toothache meditation. They are quoted as saying, “When we’re having a toothache, we know that not having a toothache is a wonderful thing. Yet when we don’t have a toothache, we’re still not happy. A non-toothache is very pleasant.”

Ever since I was first introduced to that concept, I’ve kept it close to my heart. Today, whilst in the middle of a toothache caused by a dental procedure this week where I’m undergoing my first root canal, I cannot help but wonder if a non-toothache meditation would still help me.

Where our attention flows is such a factor of what our attention goes — so perhaps if I can direct my attention to how good my mouth and body and tissues feel, perhaps I will sustain some relief.

Earlier tonight my roommate gave me some acupuncture, and also let me don boxing gloves and punch her, which provided some adrenaline and comedic relief if nothing else. I was reflecting on the movie “Crank” with Jason Statham, where he must keep his adrenaline artificially heightened to avoid death by metabolising a poison administered by an assasin. My logic was that if I could keep my adrenaline artificially high by punching my roommate while she held a makeshift boxing pad, perhaps it would take my mind off of it. This worked for about 15 minutes. She also threw me a bamboo staff and had me spin it in the backyard, which was probably entertaining to the neighbors. After a bit of massage and acupuncture, I’m happy to report it all worked — until I tried taking one bite and went spiraling back into despair.

I felt perhaps the most peace of anything by simply tuning in. I put on a nice frequency meditation and have sat in stillness, envisioning being well. I read a bit about the procedure, and of course took some ibuprofen. I gargled salt water hoping to help clear out any infection that could be worsening it. I plan to have some room temperature herbal tea, and practice the good old placebo effect. I also got in some light exercise at the gym. I guess the moral of all of this is — my tooth hurts. What a pleasant thing it is.

I feel so grateful for my health, my breathing tubes and function of my lungs and sinuses. I am so grateful for medicine and doctors and the ability to get healed from minor ailments like this. I am grateful to my body for the way she heals. I am grateful to my friend for keeping me companionship.

I am grateful to my bed for giving me a soft space to lay with it. I am grateful to my life and body for being whole and in alignment. I am grateful to Mother Nature, for giving me the herbs and even penicillin and related medicines needed to heal it. I am grateful to the peace and relaxation that can come with hydrocodone or other pain relievers, and that they become available to us when we need it. I am grateful for the combination of eastern and western medicine.

Even though I wish to heal it, I am even grateful to experience this pain. Sometimes, we need things to be revealed, so they can be healed. We don’t really stand a chance to do so, if we can never feel it. So, in that way, I am grateful for the ability to feel it. But also, I am grateful and ready to receive the healing and peace and relaxation of releasing this.

I am grateful for my magnetic field that is shielding it.

I am grateful, even though it is challenging, for the ability to be present and sit and feel, and be with it.

Earth Mother,
Mother Gaia,
Be still.
Be present.