TINY TUESDAY - I IS FOR.....

I wonder if anyone else feels a bit like me when you can’t think of something for a challenge and thinks “Well, I won’t bother today!”  I try not to look at anyone else’s Blip for the day as I like mine to be an original thought, but of course, the REAL challenge is to push yourself and do it, so that’s what I’ve done!

I was chatting with Mr. HCB, my wonderful assistant, last night about what I could do for the letter “I” and we went through several different things, but none really grabbed me.  I thought of an ink blot and promptly started flicking my fountain pen onto a piece of paper in the evening, but wasn’t really happy with the result and wasted a lot of ink in the process.

This morning I decided that I would try and get some macro shots from something out of the freezer - yes, it’s true that the ice has built up inside, which reminds me that I need to defrost it before we buy our Christmas food. However, those shots were rather bland - well ice is white, so they would be, wouldn’t they?

I then saw the pack of Therapearls, which is a drug-free way to relieve pain and inflammation, and which was very useful in the last couple of years when my right knee was so painful both before and after surgery, and of course, unlike a pack of frozen peas, it doesn’t get all soggy and it can be used over and over again!  Interestingly, when Mr. HCB came to look at the finished photograph, he thought it was an ink blot. 

Here then, is my take for today’s challenge - I is for tiny little strands of ice on the outside of the Therepearls pack - then a bit of fartnarkling with the Photoscape X app on my Macbook and I’m happy with this.

I am so glad that I was able to use this drug-free way to ease my pain, but realise that for many people, chronic pain is something they have to deal with every day - and my heart goes out to them.  Often we don’t realise that people are in pain, because they hide it very well, but if we really take the time to look and listen when we are speaking to someone, it is possible to see in their eyes the pain they are going through - it’s true that the eyes are the mirror of the soul.  

Of course, pain is not always physical, but it can be emotional too, and we need kindness and compassion when we meet people who are in any sort of deep pain. 

Perhaps we should start being honest with our family and friends when they ask how we are and instead of saying “I’m fine” tell them how we are really feeling;  and for those of us who are listening, when we have asked the question, maybe that’s the time we need to draw alongside and support them. 

Maybe today we should be saying “I is for inviting an honest response to the question, ‘How are you today?’” 

“Pain insists upon 
     being attended to. 
God whispers to us 
     in our pleasures, 
          speaks in our consciences, 
               but shouts in our pains. 
It is his megaphone 
     to rouse a deaf world.” 
C.S. Lewis