I wrote a post a few weeks ago titled Hands-free. It was about the accidents that happened to both my hands and how I was dealing with life when so many things were hard to do. Since then I have noticed that one of the most popular posts on my blog is that one. Since I can’t imagine that hundreds of people are really so concerned about my hands, I wondered what it was about.
Aha!
Of course all those people were searching for hands-free mobile phones and were being directed to me!
I don’t suppose many stayed more than the nano second required to take in the content of my blog.

At the time of the accidents I found some very interesting blogs which helped me to accept what had happened and reminded me to take care of myself, to slow down, to listen to my own rhythms, meditate, and to tune in to the messages that life sends. Messages which need translating before they can be understood.
One of these blogs is LifeUnity which is doing a project to help develop mindfulness. Each week she suggests a different practice of tuning in.  Just after I dislocated my little finger the practice was to be mindful of our hands. It made a huge difference to me to make this a meditation practice as I actually had no choice but to be mindful of my hands – if I did something without thinking it would hurt!
Now it is 7 weeks later. Both hands while not fully recovered, are much better and yesterday I did a massage noticing that my little finger is now able to fully participate without any pain.
And this week yet again LifeUnity is alongside me. The practice is Loving Hands, Loving Touch.

I am  enjoying feeling my hands exploring the world again with confidence but now also with mindfulness. When they were vulnerable and painful I was forever banging them and catching them on things like the door handle, or my coat pocket, or the edge of the table. One finger, just a few milimetres out of its normal place and it became accident prone.  I would be careful for 59 minutes out of every hour and then slip into automatic pilot and BAM – another jolt of pain. It was an interesting wake up call.

So now I am able to wash my face again but now with awareness of the sensation. I can massage my hair with shampoo and be aware of how good this feels. Or massage someone’s feet or back and feel the skill and love and experience in my hands.  I can run my fingers through Bonnie’s thick golden coat and really feel the sensation of warmth and softness. I can turn the steering wheel in the car and feel the strength in my hands and the flexibility of the fingers and the connection between my touch and the car’s response.

I realise how in the past I rushed so many movements and missed all these sensations and pleasures.
My hands are tingling now as I think about them and at last I can feel glad that I had this experience.

I searched the internet for information after my accidents so want to add here that if you dislocate your finger it is normal for it to be swollen and painful for at least 7 weeks. Don’t worry – it will slowly get better!   And perhaps you will learn some interesting things in those weeks.