[ Continuation of Codename: Maple ]
One day, I asked Maple if she knew the Emotional Damage meme. It's a clip from a video that comedian Stephen He made entitled When "Asian" is a Difficulty Mode. The backstory is supposedly there are a bunch of kids from China that are really good at beating everything in video games, so good in fact, that they wrote to the developers to complain that their games are way too easy. In response, the developers made a difficulty mode so extreme just to placate these Chinese gaming prodigies. In the video, Stephen He satirizes all the various frustrating ways you can die trying to play this "Asian" difficulty level, like walking on the sidewalk wrong or having a leaf fall on you. Eventually, he learns that his character can also die from "Emotional Damage", of all things.
Well, Maple had not heard of the Emotional Damage meme. I told her, given her endless list of physical ailments, I feel like her body is also trying to find infinite creative ways to kill her. Even though she is not Asian, she seemed to have incarnated into an "Asian" difficulty level body in this lifetime. Therefore, she must be an expert-level gamer in the Game of Life. Anyway, I always think of the Emotional Damage meme whenever she casually drops a new health issue into the conversation that I had hitherto been unaware of.
Even though I was only joking with her, Maple has since embraced her new title as keeper of "Asian" difficulty body. She said now that I have given it a name, whenever her body starts acting up, she can chuckle and laugh it off that it's just the "Asian" difficulty body trying to kill her again. "I try to be mostly upbeat about it because what else are you going to do, let it ruin every day? But that added some needed humor," Maple explained. We both have a very dark sense of humor, which is why we get along.
When Maple had her really bad bout with the Rona, she happened to have crossed my path at a time when I was questioning the nature of my energy healing abilities. The longest I have ever worked on anyone was for a two week stretch. I've worked on things like broken bones, minor sprains, and pre and post-surgery recovery. Sure, people were recovering quicker than anticipated, but they would also likely have recovered on their own if I never intervened. I've never worked on any serious illnesses though, or at least to a point where I thought they would heal. At best, I might be able to assist with some pain management issues, but beyond that would seem like a task above my pay grade.
However, I realized thinking I can't help them heal is a belief I hold and any belief I hold, I can just as well change to a new belief like a flip of the light switch. Ultimately, we are the only ones in charge of what we choose to believe in and only ones with the power to change our existing belief patterns. Of all people, I should know by now that thoughts are energy too. Perhaps then, I should discard this limiting belief and be more open-minded about energy healing. After all, we won't know what I can or can't do unless I actually try. I mean, I didn't know I could handle COVID + Lupus until I was forced to. I thought I was there to help her sleep. Therefore, I asked Maple if she was interested in being my first long-term Guinea Pig. Let's see what happens if I work on someone for, let's say, a month. In return, she gave me permission to write about her case.
Maple was quick to sign up to experience more miracles, but her hesitation was if it was wise that my first long-term Guinea Pig should be someone with an "Asian" difficulty level body. I explained, in this case, it might actually be more favorable that she has an "Asian" difficulty level body. Normally, having just one major health issue would be enough to convince me not to get involved, but in her case, the number of health issues is so outrageous that it's like you can't get more soaked in a rainstorm so why bother trying to stay dry? Also, I'm not replacing her army of doctors. She's not forgoing medical care. Maple has so many doctor's appointments that she easily meets her insurance deductible every year. We'll have plenty of access to professional medical opinions, lab reports, and scans for cross-referencing. Ultimately, if she experiences a healing on just one of her many ailments after a month, then we can be thankful she had 1000 targets for me to spray blindly at and missed 999 of them. I kind of like those odds better than finding someone with only one issue. Good thing I played a sport where if you failed two out of three times at the plate, you're still considered an effective, contributing member of the team.
Essentially, I had been wondering if I was capable of doing more and the Universe said, "Hold my beer! We know a problem child you can help..."