How to Use Fantasy to Get Through the Pain

I've been coping with a migraine for the previous three days. In the hopes of avoiding three-day migraine attacks sooner or later, I’ve been monitoring the ups and downs of my pain over the previous few days. I hope by doing so I can see the patterns and shorten my attacks sooner or later.

On the similar time, I’ve been working on a photo ebook of my trip to Portugal. One of the places we visited, the Quinta da Regaleira, has develop into the brand new metaphor for my migraine.

This fort, outdoors of Lisbon in Sintra, is actually exceptional. I don’t have time to unpack all the tales that surround this place and its landscape of underground tunnels, gothic structure, and symbols put there by the eccentric millionaire proprietor. I will say that the rumor that J.Okay. Rowling obtained her inspiration for Harry Potter here is certainly believable.

The experience of visiting the initiation properly had me enthusiastic about my migraine this week. The properly is an inverted tower, open within the middle with a spiral of stairs across the outdoors. On the bottom is a star with alternating mild and darkish factors. Our information advised us that it was meant to point out the stability between mild and darkish, although others say it’s a Masonic image.

The place do you go once you’re in ache? Can fantasy, metaphor, and previous experiences help?

On the backside, we continued on — not again up the steps as we had come — but out via the tunnels beneath the gardens above. We easily found our means by means of the darkness together with her leading by the sunshine of her cellular phone, however reading other’s accounts there's truly a labyrinth under the earth that leads to false exits and locked gates. This particularly reminded me of my migraine, as I assumed I was accomplished with it numerous occasions over the past few days, only to seek out the familiar ache beginning again as I was left looking for a new well beyond it.

In the long run, we got here by means of the darkness to a waterfall opening to a small green pond. On the opposite aspect, there have been smaller stairs leading us to a bridge after which back as much as the primary path. To get throughout we needed to stroll throughout a line of stones.

As our information defined, we had proceeded from the light into the darkness and back out into the sunshine again via totally different levels. Metaphorically, we needed to go through the darkness to get to Paradise. Supposedly this does have one thing to do with the Masons and an initiation ceremony, however she didn’t point out that. I imagine the historical past has been revised a bit for tourists.

In any case, it was a very cool experience. I felt like a child again, circling across the stairs, wanting up from the bottom, and walking by way of the darkness of the tunnel out into that watery open clearing. Desirous about it as I proceeded by way of the levels of my migraine from first twinge to full attack after which slowly coming to the surface again, it has helped me see the journey of my migraine assault in a brand new method.

How about you? Do you ever use metaphor to seek out your approach by means of ache or a troublesome expertise? Have you ever heard of Quinta da Regaleira or visited it? Where have you ever been that sticks with you?

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This submit was previously published on CatherineLanser and is republished here with permission from the writer.

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Photograph credit: istockphoto

The submit How to Use Fantasy to Get Through the Pain appeared first on The Good Men Project.

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