I Hurt My Thumb

Recently I noticed a bruise at the base of my thumb. I had no idea how I had bruised it. The next morning was a Saturday. I woke up in excruciating pain. It was just this side of impossible to pull up my slacks, turn a key or a doorknob, or to execute any of the other many tasks that involve use of an opposable thumb.

I attempted to take a morning water aerobics class. Moving my arm through the water set my hand to throbbing. Not only that, but even trying to keep my arm still while jogging or kicking my legs still initiated enough pain that I understood my body to be telling me to stop. I remembered a similar reminder of how everything in the body is connected when I had to drive after breaking an ankle. Every breath was enough to exacerbate the pain at the end of my leg. Clearly this wasn’t the best day for water exercise. I left the class early.

As I did my best to protect my hand while changing back out of my bathing suit, I commented on my injury to someone else in the locker room. All I wanted was for her to commiserate with me. However, she was quite insistent that I needed to get it X-rayed and should go to the emergency room. I knew if I did that I could write off the rest of the day. I was also pretty sure it was not broken, and that there would be little they could do for me if I did visit the ER. I told her if it wasn’t better by the following Monday that I’d follow her advice. She gave me one of those skeptical looks that indicate one should be following the volunteered advice.

Five hours later I went to a Matrix Energetics playgroup. At my request, one of my fellow Matrix practitioners ‘played’ with my hand. The first few minutes I felt the pain intensify. I took it as a good sign, indicating that my hand was responding to her ministrations. I had no idea just what was popping into her mind to do. Usually I want to know more about what a person working with me has in mind, where they are being led in their ‘play.’ I want to feel that I am participating in the process, rather than being acted upon. But I felt very comfortable letting her work as the group engaged in light banter.

By the time I left, about 1 ½ hours later, my wrist and thumb were completely mobile and there was no sign of pain. I confess to being a little astounded and doing something that I suggest people avoid – I kept testing and looking for the pain to be there. We are taught to notice what has changed, and not what has stayed the same. The mind has a powerful influence on what the body experiences. Therefore, when I caught myself testing to see if the healing still held, I would remind myself to focus on how much better it felt.

It’s been fine ever since, and the bruise is slowly fading. I still have no idea what happened to it. And I don’t need to know. Perhaps it was just one of those things that go bump in the night. And I saved Medicare a bundle, as well as avoiding spending hours of my time in an Emergency Room.

To learn more about Matrix Energetics, visit http://www.matrixenergetics.com/