Today I woke at 4am in agony. If you have ever had a diverticulitis flareup, you will know exactly what I mean. Agony. When I first had diverticulitis, I was hospitalised. It was so intensely painful, it felt as painful as childbirth (which I have experienced twice).

At 6am, I ran a hot bath and went overboard with the Epsom salts, hope the heat and magnesium would help with the pain. I stayed in the bath for two hours and read Rachael Jayne Groover’s Book Powerful and Feminine, in between the more severe pain points.

Interestingly the part I was reading about was when Rachael Jayne attended a Tony Robbins event for the first time. Almost as soon as the event started, so did the fire walking. Rachael Jayne was afraid of getting burnt, but she did the firewalk, chanting cool moss, cool moss, cool moss, over and over again. She walked the 15 feet and her feet did not burn.

The next time Rachael Jayne went to a Tony Robbins event, she knew she would be firewalking again, and she was afraid again. She chanted cool moss in her head, but this time it didn’t work. Her feet burned. She quickly went to the first aid tent where she immediately soothed her feet in a bucket of cold water. One of the helpers said something like this to her, “Feel into this experience and see what it has to teach you?” The helper then left her, giving her space to sit with the question.

What Rachael Jayne discovered from this experience was that even if she did get hurt, or burned in this case, she would be okay.

So as I lay in my bath, adding more hotwater as needed, I realised that even though in this moment, it hurts like hell, I will be okay. I put the book down on my grandmother’s stool beside the bath, and I let myself truly feel the pain.

I’d love to say that just the mere fact that I gave my poor stomach the attention it was clamouring for, that the pain dissolved. It didn’t. Though I have experienced instances where I have given a headache my full attention and it has abated. I’m still in pain as I write this. But I wanted to share this a’ha with you and also honour my commitment to doing Facebook live videos.

So my invitation for you right now is to tune into your body and get really present with what is showing up. Scan your body from your toes up to your head. Where do you feel areas of tension and lack of flow? Where do you feel good or relaxed? Just tune in and be with whatever is present in your body.

And if you are in pain, which I know many of you are, can you sit with it for a few moments without thinking of the past or projecting into the future? I have many friends with chronic illnesses that means they are in pain all day, every day. If this is you, I have to acknowledge your for keeping going. I can only appreciate the amount of energy that takes to live in pain constantly.

PLEASE NOTE: This Episode was recorded Live on Facebook.