I had a migraine this morning. It started at 5:47 am, and I was awake enough to realize it was happening. It was as if I was purposely roused by The Universe at just the right moment to feel this wicked, little bubble of pain burst and distribute its contents into the tributaries of my brain.

That’s how it feels, actually. It almost burns, and the pain starts to travel, pushing itself through my head and carving paths behind my ears and down my neck. My eyeballs hurt. The nausea comes. Pain, ears, neck, eyeballs, nausea… the cycle begins.

Somehow, in the midst of all that, my brain starts to think. Survive. That’s always first. Cope. Don’t cry. Breathe. Ask for help. Lay still. Don’t give in. Close your eyes. Still breathing?

Beyond that stage…rest. Fighting through a migraine is exhausting. Just be. Don’t focus on the pain. Deep breaths still. Eyes closed.  Quiet.

And usually…the profound. While absolutely reeling with pain, my brain can recall and evaluate every stressor, every task, every relationship, and every personal conflict of late. Is this really how our brains work? Not right now, Bro, I’m struggling. Why are you thinking of all this now? Ah… there it is…

This morning, as the pain pulsed and my neck tingled, my brain said to me…

“You know… we are put on this Earth to learn and to love. Everything comes back to that. Everything. You should not forget to be busy learning and loving. You know people who are wrestling with this or that. It’s because they have lost sight of this. Learn. Love.”

Thank you, Migraine Brain. You are so right. I’m not sure why YOU had to deliver that info to me, and I couldn’t have just suddenly realized it while taking a shower or driving, but ok. I’m with you.

Y’all, it’s true. I’m in the thick of show season, THE most stressful, task-laden, hyper-detailed, decision-driven time of the year for me. Every day, I struggle. I watch my teachers struggle. I see dancers struggle. I realize how parents struggle. We are all on different struggle buses but no doubt on the same bumpy, curvy, struggley highway.

I enjoy the journey much more when I remember to be aware of the lesson awaiting me. What should I learn from this? What is this particular email, question, behavior, clap back, attitude, request, supposed to teach me?

I enjoy the journey so much more when I remember to love people. Why is she really crying? Am I seeking first to understand? She is actually fearful. Doesn’t this situation require a little grace and humility?

This season, absenteeism has plagued us. Dancers aren’t practicing outside of class much. We have continued to teach and reteach, thus putting us quite a bit behind schedule. Everyone seems frustrated.

Maybe we don’t yell and demand. Maybe we learn that next season, we need to make adjustments to the schedule or modify our approach. Maybe we tell the kids how proud we are, we acknowledge their struggles, we hug them, we bring cookies, we laugh. Maybe we trust them and believe in them… and tell them so.

I’m observing people quite a bit these days, perhaps more than I ever have. (In my next life… Anthropology and Sociology for me.) They complain. They fight with their spouse. They whine. They swear and be-damn about this and that constantly. They quibble over nonsensical things. They fret about circumstances and get lost in their own perceptions.

I wish they could stop and remember, too. I see their dull eyes and their tense jaws and their drawn faces. I hear the sarcasm and the bitterness. I wish they could be aware that The Universe is speaking to them. It is presenting the opportunity to learn, offering a gift of self-improvement, encouraging growth, inviting next-level potential. It is constantly providing fresh chances to love others and be loved, to explore ways to love yourself, to actually impact the world (yes, the world) by loving more widely and deeply.

So now, as I navigate the migraine hangover (if you know, you know), let me just share with you that there are two answers to whatever you’re facing: learn and love. Stop what you’re doing long enough to become aware of the lesson buried in the struggle that awaits you, neatly gift-wrapped by The Universe. And please stop long enough to think about how your coming from a place of love might better serve you.

We continue to be presented with the same nonsense over and over until we learn the lesson, you know? I, personally, think that sometimes God could, at any time, resort to hitting me over the head with a bat. Geez, Woman, learn from this! And I strongly believe that He will continue to give me opportunities to love until I die. That’s what He is all about, right, loving others, loving the YOU He created, acting in love. Love, love, love. Good stuff.

You can thank my migraine for the wisdom. I don’t know how all that works, and now I’ll deal with this jacked-up, cricky neck thing and lingering head fog for another hour or so. But after that, I’ll get back to learning and loving.

I encourage you to do the same.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,