{"id":1337,"date":"2014-11-04T17:10:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T00:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2016-10-19T14:28:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T20:28:55","slug":"seeking-the-gift-bliss-after-a-brain-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/?p=1337","title":{"rendered":"Seeking the Gift\u00a0 – (Bliss after a Brain Injury?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Linda W. Arms, dated November 4, 2014<\/em><\/p>\n

For several years after my brain injury I felt a certain sense of peace and contentment.\u00a0\u00a0 Did any of you experience a similar thing? \u00a0 I know brain injuries are all so different and I know it seems odd, but I feel there was\u00a0a gift that came with the injury.\u00a0\u00a0 My brain could not handle much more than getting me through the day while in my home doing less than\u00a05% of the things I used to do in my life.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even though I was in a fog and knew I was just a small piece of my former self, I enjoyed a sense of bliss.<\/p>\n

Prior to the accident I had a career, I had a social life, I had many interests.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My life was full of activity and I could never have enough to do.\u00a0\u00a0 I was very driven and always wanted perfection in what I did and the people around me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was difficult for me to relax.\u00a0\u00a0 I was doing yoga for several years up until the accident and it helped me find some calmness.\u00a0\u00a0 I read all sorts of self-help books to learn how to be more mindful and content but nothing worked.\u00a0\u00a0 Until I got hit on the head, that is.<\/p>\n

I was turned \u201coff\u201d when the trauma occurred.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A door shut on what my life was.\u00a0\u00a0 My world shrank to a tiny portion of what it was.\u00a0\u00a0 My mind could only deal with things in the moment and only simple things.\u00a0\u00a0 I struggled to get through each day and often slept up to 14 hours a day.<\/p>\n

I could only focus on a very small piece of what was before me.\u00a0\u00a0 Since my brain was no longer cluttered with a million other thoughts, I saw the world very simply.\u00a0\u00a0 My mind was often empty with no thoughts.\u00a0\u00a0 I learned to connect to the quietness and nurturing of nature.\u00a0\u00a0 I could let the beauty of what I was seeing or feeling into my relatively empty brain and really experience it.\u00a0 I was living in the moment.\u00a0\u00a0 I did not worry.\u00a0\u00a0 I did not get angry (or display many other emotions).\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I was at peace (sort of).<\/p>\n

I watched butterflies, stared at flowers, felt the breeze, smelled the soil in my garden.\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoyed very simple things.\u00a0\u00a0 I saw and experienced many things most people around us are not capable of in our busy world.\u00a0\u00a0 I watched the blur of activity of other people racing around in their lives and I thought \u201cthey are not really living\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They do not see our world.\u00a0\u00a0 I could not see or feel our world before my accident.\u00a0\u00a0 Although, in rare times, I stopped for a split second and saw the glimpse of a beautiful flower, \u00a0it was a fleeting, shallow experience.\u00a0\u00a0 As a result of the brain injury, I can sit and enjoy the sky, the birds or flowers or just feel myself exist and feel connected to the world around me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been almost 9 years since my brain injury and I am so much better.\u00a0\u00a0 My mind is now very active and I\u2019m getting back to the many interests I had.\u00a0\u00a0 My peace and contentment have\u00a0faded.\u00a0\u00a0 The bliss is usually not there.\u00a0\u00a0 But now, since the brain injury, I know what that peace and contentment feels like.\u00a0\u00a0 If I concentrate I can feel it for moments but it takes work.\u00a0\u00a0 I have to look for that gift of bliss.\u00a0\u00a0 I have to work on it.\u00a0\u00a0 I certainly know I \u00a0don\u2019t want to lose it.\u00a0\u00a0 So now I\u2019m back reading those self-help books and using other resources to help me keep the gift going.<\/p>\n

I know my brain injury was a terrible thing for me and my family but I also found a silver lining that I will hold on to for the future and am grateful for.\u00a0\u00a0 Have any of you discovered a gift as a result of your injury?\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Or maybe a new talent?<\/p>\n

With peace\u2026.<\/p>\n

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by Linda W. Arms, dated November 4, 2014 For several years after my brain injury I felt a certain sense of peace and contentment.\u00a0\u00a0 Did any of you experience a similar thing? \u00a0 I know brain injuries are all so different and I know it seems odd, but I feel there was\u00a0a gift that came with the injury.\u00a0\u00a0 My brain could not handle much more than getting me through the day while in my home doing less than\u00a05% of the… Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[15,17,31,9,36,46,22,19,23,43,29,10,45,37,32,24,16,8,33],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-my-injury-and-recovery","tag-abi","tag-brain-aneurysm","tag-brain-fog","tag-brain-injury","tag-brain-injury-inspiration","tag-brain-injury-support","tag-brain-tumor","tag-cognitive","tag-cognitive-difficulties","tag-cognitive-overload","tag-cognitively-challenged","tag-concussion","tag-head-injury","tag-life-after-brain-injury","tag-living-with-brain-injury","tag-sensations-after-brain-injury","tag-stroke","tag-tbi","tag-visual-problems-after-brain-injury"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2GcQn-lz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1483,"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/1483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebrainfairy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}