Broken Finger ~ Broken Arrow

Taking time to remedy our ailments

Last April I broke my finger. The problem was I didn’t quite know it was broken. Well perhaps I knew it was broken but somehow managed to ignore it. I was able to ignore the pain and that the fact that it wasn’t healing, but was beginning to bend in a crooked fashion. Finally in July I went to see a doctor. After the X-ray he confirmed it was indeed broken, “really broken” were his exact words. He gave me a delicate brace and told me to wear it for 6 weeks. The finger I broke was my middle finger which leads up the arm to the heart meridian.

Why wouldn’t I take care of the this in time? Why did I wait over 8 weeks to see a doctor? If one of my daughters or pets had a broken joint I would rush to remedy it. This made me start thinking about how we are raised; and though we may do tons of work on ourselves, old childhood patterns can rear their vulnerable heads. We are never really ‘done’ growing, evolving and shifting deep unconscious patterns about ourselves. Somewhere in me was a little girl who didn’t feel that my broken finger was vital enough to take care of. I’m not slacker by any means, but in this situation I didn’t prioritize my finger, my arm, my heart.

I have been getting Five Elements Acupuncture on and off for the last year (a post on this soon), and am so enthralled with this ancient Chinese way of healing using the natural forces. This meridian is Known as the ‘King’s Bodyguard’, the pericardium is the heart’s protective sack. Although it is not recognized as an organ in Western physiology, it is regarded in Chinese medicine as a Fire-energy organ whose special function is to protect the heart. Not only does the pericardium provide the heart with physical protection, its energy also protects the heart from damage and disruption by excessive emotional energies generated by the other organs, such as anger from the liver, fear from the kidneys, and grief from the lungs. In the Chinese system of health, extreme outbursts of the Seven Emotions are regarded as powerful disruptors of internal energy balance and major causes of disease. Without the pericardium to protect it, the heart would be subject to injury from the radical fluctuations in energy caused by every emotional up and down of the day.

I have learned a profound lesson with this broken digit. My life cannot soar and fly like an arrow when the channel is blocked or broken. As much as I do seek, as much as I practice my meditations, and as much as I yearn to fly, there are still narrow crevices that need to have light shed upon them. There are still hollowed out areas where I learned to be brave and swallow the pain to keep the peace. These areas need to now be excavated and breathed into existence.

Do you have broken channels that prevent you from flying? Do you have patterns that unconsciously come up like weeds in the sun? Time to journal about those things. Time to release them. Time to brace the broken bits and piece it all together . . .

Tags:broken arrow, broken finger, Chinese, Five Elements Acupuncture, King's bodyguard