I am told when an individual loses a limb that it is not uncommon to experience PLP or what is known as Phantom Limb Pain. This is when individuals have the sensation that there missing body part is still there. They may experience a burning, tingling or itching feeling as if their limb is still attached. Perhaps indirectly that is how many feel with the loss of their soul mate or at the loss of their child. Have you ever found yourself wandering around the house and instinctively doing something or beginning to do something that you used to do together, or for your loved one? Perhaps you caught yourself in the midst of performing the act and then remembered and stopped yourself.
How did you feel then? Right then as you caught yourself remembering, pausing, and reflecting on past experiences, memories of a former life. The new way of being you may be just beginning to learn and has not yet become totally second nature. The reality for some may be that it never becomes second nature. For now it may be like living with a phantom. Our loved one is still with us. They are a part of our thinking, moving, and breathing. We are not ready to let go of that part of our past.
Yet, a real part of moving forward is acknowledging that we must live in the here and now not in the, I remember when. The difficulty is the follow-through. We must actually begin to build a new life and create our own happiness separate and apart from the life we once knew. While this is not easy, it is achievable. We must affirm we are a valuable life force as we are and we have an important purpose and function in society. When we learn and believe this truth, then we begin to appreciate our surroundings. We then find ourselves content with life as it is, figuratively forgetting that which is behind and pressing forward, ever forward. This is our new calling, our new life. This is Sunrise.
