{"id":58334446,"date":"2022-06-07T13:00:56","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T13:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=58334446"},"modified":"2022-06-07T13:00:56","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T13:00:56","slug":"the-illuminating-spark-spoonie-spirituality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/?p=58334446","title":{"rendered":"The Illuminating Spark: Spoonie Spirituality"},"content":{"rendered":"

A poem centered around spoon theory and my practice.<\/h2>
<\/figure>

(Image description: A photo of a silver-colored spoon with a couple raspberries on it. Two raspberries are to the spoon\u2019s right and one raspberry to its left, all positioned on a rough, wooden surface.) Credit: Photo by Enrico Sottocorna<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p>

In addition to life\u2019s events, I have been having some issues with chronic pain. Naturally, these issues sap my energy and limit how much I can actively do in my practice. While I won\u2019t stop saying prayers, I have to make adjustments in accordance with what my body demands. This poem expresses those limitations and a shift in perspective. I know there\u2019s nothing wrong with the accommodations, but I sometimes have to remind myself of that.<\/p>

The title of the poem is a reference to spoon theory<\/a>, a concept developed by Christine Miserandino to describe how people with chronic illnesses and pain feel. A chronically ill person has a limited source of energy, or spoons, to use throughout their day, and some activities take up more spoons than others. Decisions based on available energy levels influences how much energy is put into activities. People who feel that spoon theory applies to their lives are called spoonies.<\/p>

Spoonie Spirituality<\/p>

Those days<\/p>

when my mind<\/p>

my body<\/p>

work against me<\/p>

Those days<\/p>

when my head<\/p>

aches like, a hand is<\/p>

pressing it against a wall<\/p>

My comforter is Your mantle<\/p>

the pillows Your shoulder<\/p>

the bed my hermitage<\/p>

my sanctuary to rest in<\/p>

My digital device<\/p>

a sacred tome<\/p>

as I whisper prayers to You<\/p>

a hearth away from my hearth<\/p>

Each moment here<\/p>

is a spoon laden<\/p>

with renewal<\/p>

and peace<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A poem centered around spoon theory and my practice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58334446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58334446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58334446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58334446\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58334446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58334446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.illuminatingspark.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58334446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}