The Sprained Wrist

It had been a very satisfying day. I worked for the first time in five weeks; a sprained wrist had been preventing me. Still the wrist had not fully healed, there was pain. I was very careful of the way I used that hand when I gave my two clients their massages that day. I do mostly deep tissue therapeutic work, which is taxing enough on a healthy therapist’s body. So I had to find a way to work without re-injuring my wrist. Mostly I was successful, but giving the massages did make my wrist hurt worse, just a little. I knew I would easily recover. At least I had money…$120 for two hours of work, not bad!

Yesterday I was so financially broke that I could barely feed myself. I am an American who was living in Australia without a job, without any savings, without any social services available. I had borrowed all that I could from everyone I could ask, and I was again at the end of my ropes. I had to decide to go back to work doing the only thing I knew I could do to make money on such short notice. I had to decide to work through the pain.

Yesterday I spent my last thirty dollars on some food and an advertisement for only one day for my massage services. The ad had to pay off. I did not want to face the prospect of borrowing money just to advertise again, nor did I want to face starvation. Sometimes I would advertise and get no clients. Thank God it worked out today. The risk I took yesterday paid off. Now I had enough money to advertise for the next week and eat for the next three or four days. Which is what I did, I went shopping and booked my ads for the next week.

I was in the midst of one of the most difficult times of my life. Just fourteen months earlier I had lost my job at Compaq Corporation which was the source of my working visa. I was unable to find another employer in the computer software industry in Australia. Writing software was the reason the Government of Australia permitted me to remain for the nearly five years I had been there. I had also tried establishing my own business over the internet, but lack of proper funding and inexperience was killing me. Financially I was facing a pretty dreary picture.

Emotionally it had been no bed of roses either. At the same time I lost my job, I also lost my fiancé; an Australian Shelia. I was still very much in love and attached to her. Even at this time I held out hope that she would change her mind and invite me back into her life. There were other things too, too much to go into in this short story. Needless to say, it was a time in my life where I was stressed to the max, and then some.

Fortunately for me I had my spiritual experience and awareness. I had been studying intently for sixteen years with many different enlightened masters. Abraham, channeled through Esther Hicks was my current teacher. I had been applying the principals of all I had learned in my life on a regular basis and I was getting profound results. It was these experiences, coincidences, and miracles that gave me the strength and faith to get me through this difficult time of my life.

So I was feeling very happy to receive $120 that day and know that I was once again healthy enough to work. Finally I could at least feed myself and pay the current bills. That was a step in the right direction.

I lived on the Isle of Capri just outside of Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast of Australia. It was millionaire’s row. I lived in one of the worst houses in the area, but it was still a nice enough house, and right on the waterfront too! I attribute my luxury in the midst of poverty to the Law of Attraction.

One of the things I loved to do was to go out rollerblading with my dog Sasha. All of the streets were smooth and flat. We would skate over our half of the island, stopping at the various waterfront parks and vacant lots to enjoy the beauty and for Sasha to have a swim…I would swim too on certain occasions when the weather was really hot. There was a wide open parking lot, right next to a soccer field where I would skate around like a figure skater. I loved the feeling of such fluid motion.

Want to guess how I sprained my wrist? Yep, I sprained it figure skating in that parking lot just five weeks earlier. I had a wrist guard which I stopped wearing because my wrists and hands would get hot, sweaty and itchy. Besides I hardly ever fell and when I did I was usually able to recover without damage. But after I sprained my wrist I was pretty careful to wear the wrist guards every time I went skating…except on that particular day when I just forgot to put them on.

So once again I went down, pretty near that same spot as the last time too. I fell on the same side of my body, while skating backwards, and automatically caught my fall with the same hand. I sprained the same wrist all over again, but this time it was much worse. It swelled up immediately and turned black and blue in a surprisingly short amount of time.

I got right up and skated away in total embarrassment. I felt like someone was watching me and I had just done something very stupid. Soon I realized no one was around and I just stopped in the middle of the street. I became lost in my thoughts, It’s your first day back at work and you injure yourself worse than the last time. What kind of idiot are you? No one is going to have any sympathy for you at all. Your father will tell you to come home to the USA. Your friends will have some excuse, but they will never talk to you again if you ask for more money.

Then I caught myself in my destructive thinking and realized I needed to stop. But even in the midst of that realization my mind was flooded with fear. How will I eat in a few days? I only bought enough food for three or four days. I just paid most of my money for massage ads. No. Stop thinking like that! I have got to get a grip on my mind. Okay, I have had healing miracles in the past…that is what I need right now. A healing miracle. I won’t focus on my wrist at all. I won’t tell anyone what I did. I will just take the most care possible and continue on with my life as if this never happened.

That is exactly what I did. I went home and made my dinner, sat down in front of the TV with a glass of wine, ate my meal and enjoyed my evening. And I did not tell a soul. At one point while I was cooking I instinctively grabbed the pan with my injured wrist and twisted slightly. The pain nearly sent me through the roof. For a moment I started to worry, How am I going to give a massage tomorrow with my wrist like this? I felt like I wanted to cry. But I quickly gained my composure and reminded myself that I have experienced healing miracles before, I have seen them occur for others, and there was no room for any other possibility in this situation. I went on with the rest of my evening and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I awoke abruptly with pain a few times in the night. Then the worry would kick in which I quickly caught. Every time I would worry I would consciously spend a little time recalling and reliving past experiences of healing miracles. This would calm my mind. The next day my wrist was still swollen and still black and blue in spots. I had lots of phone calls for massage. I figured if I could get through two of them I would be doing well.

My first client showed up at 11:00 am. I was very good about protecting my wrist; my focus was strong. I was not going to forget and accidently use my hand or wrist incorrectly. Afterwards I felt a little bit of extra soreness and iced my wrist for about thirty minutes as soon as the client was out the door.

It was during my second massage which began at 2:00 in the afternoon that I let my focus drift. I was doing well, feeling confident and getting lost in the music. I get very artistic and dance with my hands, arms, and elbows on the body of my client when I give a massage; this time was no different. Then it happened, at one point while I was totally lost in what I was doing I realized I was using the hand of my sprained wrist as if it were not injured. I mean I caught myself doing really strong petrissage on my client’s leg. Petrissage is a Swedish kneading technique which entails griping and twisting and flexing of the wrist. That is what I was doing when I realized…What Am I Doing?!?

I stopped immediately in a state of shock. At first I was just waiting for the pain to come shooting through, but there was no pain. I stood there and stared in amazement at my wrist which appeared to be completely normal; no swelling and no black and blue color. There was no pain, none at all. Not even the little left over pain from the sprain of five weeks ago. My hand and wrist felt absolutely fine. Then I realized the client might notice an abrupt absence of touch and I continued giving him his massage. My mind was stunned in realization of what had just happened and like a mantra I just kept repeating, Thank you God. Thank you God. Thank you God. Tears of joy were streaming down my face which I had to keep wiping away so they wouldn’t drip on my client.

When my client left he thanked me and said, “Without a doubt, that was the best massage I have ever had in my entire life.” I had other clients try to book appointments that day, but I turned them down. I was happy to have another $120 in my pocket and I could wait until the next day to work again. I celebrated this magical miracle by going out rollerblading with my dog Sasha. This time I wore my wrist guards.

I cannot emphasize enough the power we hold in our mind. When we learn to use our mind correctly, nothing is impossible. We start by first trying out new ideas and being open to experiencing the results. We advance with practice and diligence. Slowly our inner programming changes; our new ways of thinking replace the old and become automatic. Life responds by delivering different experiences to us. Our successes give us strength and vision to stretch our minds further and create even grander life experiences.

Michael Skowronski is the author of the book, Unforgettable: A Love and Spiritual Growth Story, which clearly shows the Law of Attraction at work through equally amazing true life experiences.

Copyright reserved 2007 by Michael Skowronski – Permission given for non-exclusive use to Robin Hoch for her book “Living the Law of Attraction” under a proper legal contract is expected prior to publication.