Water in the bucket of life

I worked at a clinic in Essex that so often brought me people who had really challenging physical issues of movement. I both loved that and felt huge levels of responsibility to provide the best session I could, to be of the most service.

One day a woman I had never met before, came in waving an article about someone who had received reflexology and been completely healed as a result. Although I was a trained reflexologist, this client had an expectation of me that I told her I could not guarantee to meet. Just because there was an article that confirmed the reality of healing for another woman, we didn’t know the circumstances related to her particular situation, or the work Deidre had completed before she met with the apparent healing reflexologist.

Deirdre was dull and dowdy, tired, and bent over from a sore back issue. She looked exhausted and worn down. She wasn’t able to lay down on the table due to her back hurting so I gathered cushions from all over the salon so that she could sit up comfortably, while I worked on her feet.

As I worked at her feet she spoke.  Deirdre was obviously angry. Her whole focus was on her husband’s life choice. They’d been married for as long as she could remember, but he was choosing to fill his bucket of life with Alcohol. Her whole conversation was about what he didn’t do for her, who he wasn’t for her, and how he let her down. 

After a while I asked her to stop. I had to ask her more than once. I then asked her what was in her bucket of life. She had no idea what I was talking about. I told her he had decided to fill his with bottles of booze. What was in hers? The only thing I could see in her bucket of life was resentment at what he’d put in his. I could work on her back through her feet every day and charge her a small fortune, or she could get busy filling her life with all kinds of good activity that made her happy and she would be better than she was right now. Her homework was to make a list of anything and everything that brought a smile to her face, lightened her heart and gave her a reason to live in her own bucket of life, along with drinking more water to hydrate those ideas. Once she had written a list, she was to carry out at least one of them a day or every other day so that at the end of a week she had something in her bucket other than simply resentment of what he’d put in his. 

When I next saw her, she looked more alive, was walking better and had more energy. The reflexology session was much more successful as there was more of her to reach. She was drinking more water and this alone removed some of the pain in her body, and brought more energy to her daily life. We are made up of more than 55% water and it keeps our whole being going. It’s important not to underestimate the value of drinking plenty of this elixir of life.

Blessings,

Ruth