Not too long ago, I had to pay a visit to the emergency room in the middle of the night. It happened during my Eat, Pray & Love journey as I was traveling through Europe. For the sake of sparing TMI details, I recognized I had a bladder infection.
I had the same painful symptoms a year before so it was quite easy to realize what was going on. Fortunately, last year, it was easy to go to the local Urgent Care facility down the street to obtain antibiotics prescription within half an hour after a urine test.
Not so much in Spain. I spent the night at the ER dealing with numerous medics. It didn’t help that there was a language barrier either. They ran blood tests, urine test and X-rays. For the first time in my life, I hyperventilated as the needle they used to draw blood was painful and was left in my arm for half an hour.
At the local Urgent Care a year ago, I did not need to do blood work and X-rays. In fact, I was in and out with antibiotics in 30-minutes. Having experienced this last year, it made it all the more frustrating with the extra poking and scanning. The Spanish procedure seemed a bit more complicated, lengthy, and painful.
To make matters worse, I had already reserved a 7-hour train ride to another part of the country the following day! I wouldn’t wish a bladder infection on my worst boss…let alone having to have one using disgusting public restrooms at the train station every 10 minutes. Just awful.
But in an attempt to look at the bright side, there were some powerful life lessons from this crazy Eat, Pray, & Love adventure. After all, since I chose to quit my 9-5, this closed the chapter of my 3-months of unemployment journey with a bang.
Image by Alexas_Fotos
1. Reiki Principles Personified.
The entire trip to the ER personified all the Reiki principles. I’ll just focus on one of the five that could be applied to my experience: “Just for today, I will give thanks to all my blessings.”
During the overnight crisis, I assumed the worst. I had no idea about their universal health care system until the moment I walked out of the hospital. Thus, I assumed that the doctors and nurses wanted to run “extra” and “unnecessary” test to run up the hospital bill. This added to the extreme stress as I had very basic unemployment health insurance at the time. It probably contributed to the hyperventilation too!
But alas, at the end of the ER experience, I learned that there were no significant charges under their universal health care procedures. Thank goodness for reduced healthcare costs because at that time I was unemployed and barely covered by health insurance.
Also, thank goodness it was not a major health scare. The symptoms I had could have been more symptoms of more severe cases of kidney infection and cancer.
And at the end of the day, thank freaking goodness for antibiotics because the pain has lessened significantly lessened within 24 hours.
2. Meltdowns are needed for healing.
I had a total of three meltdowns. The first was at the hospital when the nurse wouldn’t take out the needle in my arm after drawing blood. The second meltdown was at the train station after realizing that I had to deal with my bladder infection in public restrooms for the next 10-12 hours until the next city. And the third meltdown was at the next city after pushing myself to see all the sites rather than resting.
Each meltdown was much needed. It was extremely releasing on the mental, emotional, physical, and energetic level. On the mental level, I gained clarity on what it was that was (still) bothering me even after I left the hospital with antibiotics. The meltdowns led to constructive arguments with the person I traveled with.
On the emotional level, the meltdowns helped me realize there were lots of pent-up emotions to address within myself stemming from childhood, particularly the fear of rejection. On the physical level, crying all those tears helped me to release a lot of negativity that was stuck for years. On the energetic level, I felt my vibrations lift higher and higher after being able to let go of the festering emotions and thoughts. That’s Reiki universal energy at work!
3. Discomfort leads to spiritual growth.
Being out of my comfort zone led to tremendous spiritual growth. This scary experience was a journey of faith, trust and surrendering to the Universe. It brought up issues from the dark in order for those issues to get some light.
Spiritual growth is a lifelong process. Healing and releasing old baggage is a part of this journey of personal development. When we grow, we are expanding and yeah, it can get pretty uncomfortable.
So what’s the best way to manage these emotions when they surface and resurface? Let go of any judgement around what’s coming up. This creates space to tend to the old wounds. The much needed energy allows for the negativity to transform as it passes through.
Article by Eve Sengkeo
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Eve Sengkeo loves helping others achieve mind, body and spiritual wellness. As a Reiki Master, she inspires people through writing about her setbacks, comebacks, and all the lessons learned in between.
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