Turning Deficits into Strengths

This morning, as I lay in bed long before my alarm clock went off, my skin was keen to the texture of my pillow, my blankets and even the smooth surface where my alarm clock stood. Some mornings, I feel the ocational wet but cold nose so familiar of my sid-kick  touching my hand to signal to me that he too was awake nd wanted to know if we could get up. Then imagining the days travel plans. s results in either signalling him back down or me just taking comfort in his warm fur coat.

All of this is done, in the dark and without hearing a single thing. Yes, complete darkness and without sound because my cochlear implants are not in. They are in their machine being "cleaned" of airborne debris to help maintain their working condition, while the batteries are charging.

Imagine that! It must be scary!  It may be fore some, but not for me. It is times like this that I often go into meditation. I feel blessed with the ability to block out all distractions of sight and sound and really meditate, really be mindful of what is going on with my other senses while examine my thoughts, memories and even anticipations of the future. I often examine my fears.  Because of this, I am really able to examine my fears, examine how my thought process works (although, others will tell you something different!).

I really enjoy this ability to meditate deeply as it helps me reflect and refocus my energy.  It is through this process that I am okay being deaf-blind. It is also a time for me to connect to my Higher Power to seek insight in how to overcome or approach a challenge. 

The beauty of this is that I can choose to put my cochlear implants in, and turn on some music, and also bring that sort of stimulation into my mediation. But I don't do that. I turn on my internal MP3 player. I mentally create my music of what I want to hear, acting as the conductor. I have had this ability for as long as I can remember, especially when I had no benefit from hearing aids.

So yes, being deaf-blind isn't all that scary. In fact, it has some benefits and perks!