I went to the chiropractor’s the other day, an old school bone doctor with little bedside manner, but a strong intuition and a wealth of knowledge and experience. Before I could say anything, he had his hands on my traps and began palpating my neck. He told me about all the patients that he has seen over the past few years with symptoms of whiplash, from the “covid car crash”.
After he leveraged my bones back into place, and I had some time to reflect, I realized that it does feel like I’ve been in a car crash. Not only was there the initial impact of the world shutting down and life grinding to an abrupt halt, but there have been residual impacts, similar to a multi-car pileup on an icy highway. There was my father’s death in July of 2020, closing the doors to our family business of 40-years, the poisoning and death of my cat, and one major tooth extraction. We have all been put through the wringer and even now, I find myself still bracing for impact.
After a summer spent on a remote off-grid island, immersed in nature, barefoot, and carefree, my foray back into the city has been met with a subtle, slow creep of muscular tension building in my body. This physical response feels vaguely familiar, like an old repeating pattern. This has left me wondering if this is simply my body holding onto the past, or is it a precognition of something yet to come?
I have been diving down rabbit holes since the mid-1980’s. I am a healthy skeptic who questions authority and colours well outside the lines. My curios nature and insatiable apatite for the truth have gotten me into trouble on countless occasions, but they have also allowed me to break free from social standards and leverage myself out of groupthink. What I have gleaned is that we are in the middle of a spiritual war, surrounded on all sides by a common enemy, and the future looks grim. So, what can we do besides brace for impact?
If we are fighting a spiritual war, then the solution must be found in the spiritual realm.
Last November, I found my father’s Bible that had been tucked away in a closet. It was a gift that he had received 50-years earlier from the Youth for Christ group that operated within the Canadian Football League. As soon as I saw it, I cried because I felt like my father had led me to it. When I opened the cover, a sheet of paper fell out with step-by-step instructions on prayer and fasting from Mathew 17:21, a verse that has been omitted from most modern Bibles. To me, this was a confirmation that I was on the right path.
By coincidence, later that afternoon, I opened up YouTube to find a sermon by John MacArthur, titled ‘How to Tell the Truth in a Post Truth World’. I watched it, and was immediately transformed. Over the next few days, I rewatched that sermon a handful of times, allowing the words to sink in and hit home. Then I moved onto ‘What’s Wrong with Everybody’, and ‘Defeating Discontentment’. For the first time in my life, I felt that I was hearing the truth and being given clear instructions on how to live life on the narrow path to salvation, free from societal constraints and expectations.
I have been reading the Bible for a year now, steadily working my way through the New Testament, and listening to weekly sermons. This deep dive into the scriptures has been revealing the truth about the world we live in and these rapidly changing times.
But, what does all of this have to do with the tension in my body, and the pain in my neck?
Since arriving back in the city, I am no longer barefoot and carefree. I spend most of my time indoors: creating, teaching, and working. I have unplugged from the natural world and plugged back into the world of man, which has left me feeling stretched thin.
In hindsight, my arrival back into the city has been like another impact on the ever-growing highway pileup. But, now that my tendency to tighten when under pressure has been revealed, I am able to take action to help rectify the situation. I will double-down on the practices that serve me best: scriptural reading, prayer, proper hydration and nutrition, movement, massage, time in nature, and jewelry making. I know, from experience, that when I am consistent and disciplined with my practices, I feel strong, resilient, and capable of handling whatever’s to come.
Today, Love finds me reclaiming my attention, releasing tension from my body, and surrendering to the Will of God.
