A couple of days ago I laid a concrete footing for a concrete block retaining wall. The job proved to be far bigger than I had anticipated. At one point Donna went to the hardware store and bought ten extra eighty-pound bags of concrete, so I could finish the work.
It was 90 degrees outside, with nearly 90% humidity, and I was lifting heavy objects for hours, sweating profusely. When I finally quit, I realized I had worked much too hard and too long. I had not been replacing either water or electrolytes–the potassium, sodium, magnesium, and other ions required for normal cell function. From head to toe, my muscles contracted in painful spasms, such that finding a position without pain was impossible–a common effect of electrolyte imbalance. I drank like a camel and consumed electrolyte pills and muscle relaxants like candy. After hours of spasms and pain, I began to feel better.
When I was forty years old, I could work outside all day, working hard no matter the heat or difficulty of the job. I sometimes forget, however, that age forty passed me by many years ago, and my ability to exert myself is more limited. I've learned that in order to work hard in the heat I have to stay hydrated, and I have to regularly replace electrolytes, beginning at the start of the job. Because I ignored that knowledge on this occasion, I became rather ill for a short time.
Most people I talk to—or simply observe in everyday life—are suffering severely, emotionally speaking. They're in pain because they're lacking Real Love, much as I was deficient in water and electrolytes. Had I not replaced those elements, I would have remained in pain. I had to lie on the floor, in fact, to keep from passing out. When people don't take the steps to find and share love, they lack the essential elements to emotional health, and their subsequent emotional problems are guaranteed. When we do have enough Real Love, the pain just naturally disappears.
What You Can Do
Replace your pain & confusion with peace and happiness.
READ OR LISTEN TO:
