Colleen Fava I love it when things all flow and make sense when you look backwards – the other day, my yoga instructor told a story about trying to put in her contact lenses after she had been cutting onions and garlic – she proceeded to describe the pain and discomfort she felt after she had realized what she had done with her first contact in her eye. Anticipating the second eye pain and trying to figure out if she could get through her day wearing just one contact lens, she mentioned that she suddenly heard the words ‘this too shall pass’ – so she proceeded to put the second lens in and indeed the pain did pass. She took deep breaths and recited ‘this too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass.’ The breathing and mantra kept her grounded and calmer compared to when she put in the first contact lens. It’s amazing what a difference awareness makes! The realization of this too shall pass reminded her that the discomfort would only be for a moment and that she could get through it.
After this story, the yoga class began. During the class the instructor continued to remind us of when we too could use ‘this too shall pass’ throughout the class – breathing through the uncomfortable, however making sure to listen to our bodies for pain as pain and discomfort are two different things and there is information in both.
Pain is where we may be injuring ourselves and/or may be an indication of something bigger wrong physically that we need to address.
Discomfort is something that we get in and out of depending on how long we allow ourselves to stay. If we can challenge ourselves to stay in the discomfort long enough then we can find out more about ourselves, maybe push our physical and mental limits a bit more, maybe learn new happy places we can get to, as well as discover new triggers that may arise.
There’s learning in all of it.
After I left yoga, I was in a hurry as I had clients right away; I have a routine before I see them and I didn’t really have time to do the usual beforehand so I started to get frustrated. And then it dawned on me…this too shall pass – this feeling of frustration and annoyance of not having enough time will go away. I asked myself, ‘what is this about anyway?’, and took a deep breath. I remembered that when I was growing up, I always had to be on time, and if I wasn’t, there were huge repercussions. This was a realization from doing my own therapy, however, I had forgotten about it, so the annoyance slowly dissipated and I started to feel thankful for the reminder of why I sometimes can get annoyed when I feel as though I am limited for time. I took another deep breath and realized that I had plenty of time (just not the amount I normally do) and went on with my routine.
After my client left, I was on my computer and it started to act up. I started panicking, thinking about all of the important information that is stored on it and the fact that I truly needed it to be working properly. Suddenly, I stopped and said to myself, ‘this too shall pass’ and you know what? It did! As soon as I took a deep breath and began not to make too big of a deal about it, the computer started to work.
I felt it to be a simple reminder to not be in such a hurry.
As it turned out, a good friend called at the exact moment I stopped to breathe and I was able to talk to her and properly catch up (rather than me having to call her back as I would have been in the middle of doing work if my computer hadn’t had been acting up) – what a gift.
I had to schedule a last minute dentist appointment later that same day as I had a filling fall out a couple of days beforehand. When I arrived at the dentist, she checked my teeth and informed me that I had three fillings that needed replacing (one on the right and two on the left). I hate needles and immediately was stressed and upset – I asked her if we could try to do the work without needles and she said she would try. She started on the right side first. I took a few deep breaths and as she was taking out the old filling, I repeated ‘this too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass’ – although it was intense, I was able to get through it successfully, without any pain.
When she started on the left side however, she discovered a large cavity underneath the old filling and explained that she would need to freeze this side of my mouth – I started to feel upset and ashamed that I had let this happen to my teeth and also scared of the pain of a needle and then again, ‘this too shall pass’ popped into my head. So as she was putting the needle to my gums I repeated the mantra again and again. You know what – it worked. The work took longer than expected, however, while being in my discomfort and reminding myself that ‘this too shall pass’, I managed to get through it all.
I am hyper vigilant about my teeth – at least I thought I was! After my trip to the dentist, I realized that I pay a lot of attention to the aesthetics of my teeth but not enough attention to the rest of my mouth – so in being calm and getting through the work – I was also gifted with this realization.
Looking back on this day from end to beginning, I am so thankful for what my yoga instructor shared. I imagine my day could have been a whole lot different if I hadn’t have gone to my yoga class and/or really paid attention to her story about her contact lenses. I just love it when it all flows and comes together like that!
