Spirituality and Surgery

[Guest guest]

As many members know, I rarely feel comfortable raising religious/spiritual issues or beliefs at this site. We welcome members of every faith (and no faith). I would not want to alienate a single one of our members -- whether Christian, Hindu, or agnostic.

But if you are someone who does value an occasional spiritual perspective -- and especially if you or a family member will be facing surgery or hospitalization some time soon -- you might enjoy the first entry (or others) at this site:

http://blogs.faithstreams.com/blogs/making_this_my_day/

I found this blog totally by accident (unless you believe that there are no accidents in the universe -- maybe this was some kind of synchronicity). I was actually doing a search for a specific quotation from the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Hasidism, which revolutionized and revitalized Jewish spiritual practice in Europe not long before our own American Revolution), I wanted to use the specific quotation, which I only half-remembered, on a greeting card I was collaging. I found the exact wording in this particular blog. In noting it and bookmarking the site, I barely noticed any other text. Then today I clicked on my bookmark randomly. I was amazed to see that the most recent blog entry seemed right on point for many people I correspond with daily about revision surgery, hospitals, pain, and anxiety. In fact, at first I did not even recognize the site and wondered if someone from this group might have sent me the url.

By the way, I have listened to the tape, or part of it, which this woman recommends for people facing surgery. It is a very good one if you find tapes helpful. I myself use a tape or CD very occasionally for audio instruction -- primarily in Insight Meditation (mindfulness practice) and in learning a language other than my own. But otherwise, apart from avoiding spiritual discussions at the Feisty group, I also tend to avoid discussing pre-op tapes here. The fact is, I myself never managed to get through a single one of the pre-op tapes people urged me to use before my own surgeries! "To each her own" . . . .