Healing Lessons

Throughout my time healing a broken foot several years ago, there were several lessons. During a conversation with a colleague, I was asked how I planned to remember these lessons after the healing was done. So I decided to put together a charm bracelet as a visual aid to recall the most salient ones...

The first charm is a pine cone. It was the actual physical object on which I had tripped, resulting in the injury. A pine cone also happens to symbolize intuition. I had been running around as usual, trying to do ten things at once, up in my head instead of focusing on things around me. So to me, it meant that if you ignore your intuition, what's right in front of you, it can trip you up. Paying attention to the "pine cones" in our lives is really about being mindful, being in the present moment. 

The next charm is a sea turtle. When my foot broke, it was a quite forcible lesson in slowing down--whether I liked it or not!--as I could suddenly no longer walk, drive, stand up in the shower, or do other daily activities for several months. Yet I made it a point of focusing on what I still COULD do, and making adaptations, such as in the yoga routine I created while still in the cast boot. The sea turtle, therefore, is meant to remind me to slow down, but keep on swimming. 

The last charm is a flamingo. Well, I'm a native Floridian, so all that standing on one foot reminded me of the flamingo. And if you've ever seen those beautiful pink birds, they actually do stand around serenely on one leg, perfectly balanced. So the flamingo is to remind me to find the balance in the imbalance--and to keep it classy! ;) 

How have you committed life lessons to memory?