The wisdom of Paul Soluri

I would like to introduce a blog by my friend Paul Soluri who writes Life Unraveled. It can be found on my blog list to the right of my posts. It is well worth your time to check out his wisdom. Paul recently returned from a 10 day meditation retreat and has shared his experiences in a three part post.

Part 3 really got my attention because it is about letting go of “thoughts that hold a person prisoner” and keeps them from living a peaceful life. The reason this post was so meaningful for me is because I have been going through a similar experience. Paul’s story centered on his attachment to a bar of soap, or rather the lack of one, and mine was with a blood pressure monitor. Reading his post caused me to have the courage to let go of negative thoughts that were causing me a great deal of unnecessary pain and fear.

Following my surgery last September my surgeon reduced my blood pressure medication to a minimum dose, believing that it had risen because my body was trying so hard to function under extreme conditions. I was told to keep track of it after I came home. This was not as easy as it should have been. I went through 3 different monitors all giving me inaccurate readings. It was very frustrating.

After I had sent the 3rd one back I stopped taking my blood pressure at all because it was making me very nervous. I felt great and decided to trust the unknown. I do realize that was not the smartest thing I could have done. I continued to exercise and engaged in focused breathing to help my body heal. I even took an adrenal supplement for a few weeks at the suggestion of my chiropractor and have been seeing a message therapist once a month.

Even though I was doing my part I worried and worried that my pressure could be going up without my knowledge. I finally sent for a completely different monitor about a month ago. This one was recommended on Amazon by many people as reliable. Problem solved right? Wrong. I talked myself into being afraid to use it. I knew if it gave me a high reading I would freak out and make it even higher. Every day my thoughts got worse and worse and created an unreal amount of negative energy and fear. Crazy I know! I was afraid of a machine that could do nothing but produce numbers.

After reading Paul’s post yesterday (and laughing with him) about making himself crazy over a bar of soap I woke up this morning determined to let go of my negative thoughts about my blood pressure. When I exercised this morning I kept repeating to myself, “Help me to think positive thoughts”. This afternoon I stopped by the nurse’s station at the hospital to have my blood pressure taken.

As a bonus, the first person I ran into and got a hug from was one of my favorite nurses from my hospital stay. Shelley had me sit down and relax while she went to get a monitor. To make a long story shorter the final reading was 119/67. One can’t get much better than that! All this worry that I had created myself was such a waste of time and if it wouldn’t have been for Paul’s post it might still be going on. Thanks Paul you are not only an inspirational writer you are a good friend- and you too Shelley! Love you both!