Labels – when taken as true – comes with a particular way of viewing the world, rests on assumptions, and trigger associations. So it can be very helpful to explore even the most basic labels.
One of the labels I have explored for myself is chronic fatigue. Is it true? What happens when I take it as true? Who would I be – right now – without it? What’s the validity in the turnarounds?
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It’s chronic fatigue.
Is it true?
Yes.
Can you know for certain it’s true?
No.
What happens when you take it as true?
I feel the weight of the diagnosis.
I imagine a large group of medical doctors with concerned looks agreeing it’s chronic fatigue.
I have an image of it as chronic.
My mind comes up with scary images based on what I have heard or read.
I see images of people being incapacitated for a very long time.
I feel fear, hopelessness.
Who would you be without it?
I feel lighter.
I am with what’s here.
Free of fear.
Peaceful.
Engaged.
Turnarounds
(a) It’s not chronic fatigue.
Chronic fatigue is a label, a thought. What it refers to is something different, not touched by labels and thoughts.
I don’t know if that’s what it is. It’s just a convenient label. Nobody really knows what CFS is.
It’s not chronic, in the sense of permanent or lasting, even now.
(b) It’s temporary fatigue.
Yes. Even now, it’s temporary. Sometimes, I have energy and a more clear mind.
It won’t last. That’s one thing that’s certain.
It’s “fatigue” only when a thought labels it so.
(c) It’s chronic vitality.
I sometimes do a lot, even if I was someone who didn’t have that label.
I experience aliveness and vitality, even when (what a thought calls) tiredness and brain fog is more pronounced.
The sensations that a thought calls tiredness and brain fog are vibrant and full of life.
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