PHANTOM PAIN FOLLOWING AMPUTATION

 Phantom pain following amputation.

I can attest to that reality! After my 2007 amputation of my left leg below the knee, I was so aware that my foot was still there. I often had pain in the "foot," in the same places I had gangrene from the infection due to peripheral artery disease. After about 5 years, an old prosthetist came along who argued with me that there was no such thing as phantom pain and claimed he had worked with a number of military who were amputees. I told him he did not know what he was talking about. I know, and in the earlier days my pain could be intense for a few minutes. In fact, it could wake me from a sound sleep. I learned to move the discomfort to the good leg and foot via my mind to "dissolve it", much in the same way that the military therapy now uses a mirror to show the good leg. The brain is fascinating! After my stroke in 2017, I had a short period of proprioception issues with my right arm--so strange to experience. Biologist Rubert Sheldrake, PhD., has written an interesting article concerning phantom pain from limb loss. My own phantom pain always remind me of the work of researcher Thelma Moss at UCLA in working with Kirlian photography and the human aura and plants, and how the energy aura of a leaf can be seen when the leaf has been cut off. One of my last appointments with my surgeon, when his young resident asked if I was having any pain, I mentioned the phantom pain once in a while and the research of Thelma Moss and he had no idea what I was speaking of. (I hope he further investigated). Sheldrake has written some excellent articles--and my favorites include "psychic pets." 

~Linda

https://noetic.org/blog/are-phantom-limbs-real/ 

 

CREATIVITY

As a writer and an artist, I have often wondered where some of my ideas have originated. A few years ago, I sculpted from clay a figure of a woman. It was my first experience working with clay. As I built up and formed the clay, I found that it was almost as if the figure itself took on a life of her own and was guiding me. She is now cast in bronze, but I have to admit I liked her better in the clay form as she seemed more alive and vital. 

 

I would guess that many people yearn to be more creative. We often feel we do not have creative talent and that only successful painters, musicians, writers, and other artistic people are able to produce artistic works. But within each of us are powers of imagination and creativity waiting to be discovered, unleashed, and shared. It seems that we think too often that creativity has to be some great masterpiece. Creativity encompasses many things. I’ve mentioned the ones often thought of–art, literature, music, invention–but the list is more extensive and possibly not as dramatic. It can be as simple as making a beautiful flower arrangement, cooking a gourmet meal served with elegance, crocheting a pair of baby slippers, decorating a room in your home, landscaping a yard, making a children’s toy from wood. 

 

Many ordinary acts we do are creative, and we do not always think of them in that way. Our simple accomplishments can bring us a sense of pride and satisfaction. And that satisfaction may not be any less than the satisfaction felt by a great master artist of the past. 

 

~Linda