Today I wore some new shoes for the first time. Within about 10 minutes I had two beautiful new blisters on my toes! It’s funny how new shoes always need time to get comfortable. You would have through by now, with all of our modern technologies, that we would have developed the blister-proof shoe. I guess slippers are less likely to cause blisters but they aren’t very practical for wet weather, driving or snow, all of which I’ve experienced tonight. Instead I have to cover the blisters with sticking plasters and keep trying to break the new shoes in. I know that very quickly they will become the most comfortable shoes ever, especially when they have sagged a little and moulded to the shape of my feet. And I will be heartbroken when they finally wear out. I just wish they could be comfortable from the first time of wearing.

I’m talking about shoes and blisters because as I drove along to Clitheroe Spiritualist church tonight my Guides were nattering in the back seat about the new shoes. They were commenting on the point I’ve made above. With much laughter they pointed out that whilst we are here living an Earth life we spend a lot of time focusing our energy on things that make us uncomfortable instead of what might make us feel really at ease. I would kill for a comfortable bra, cars that couldn’t bump into each other, dishes & cups that could clean themselves. I remember watching a programme about technology that would ‘microwave’ equipment clean and wondering why every kitchen didn’t have something like that. How about houses that were easy to expand or contract to our needs? What about fresh water & food beamed into every home & onto the shelves so I don’t have to push a trolley around a supermarket?

They sound like wild ideas but my Guides say everything is possible if we were prepared to look for a way. Instead we spend our energy on too many things that are of no importance, create pollution or cause dis-ease. They also say it’s like this because we accept that our life should be a struggle over meaningless things. So blisters continue to make us uncomfortable because no one notices – we have a temporary solution in sticking plasters so we stick with the old pattern. And that was also their point. Whenever anything new comes along its not going to fit every angle of our lives. There will be rough edges that rub us up the wrong way. Blisters will develop as we try to accommodate new ways of feeling, thinking and doing. Change is like that. It is designed to get us to notice that we have new choices. We can stick a plaster over every sore point and wait until the new becomes routine or we can find changes that create less blisters.

I’m all for less blisters. My Guides know that significant changes are hard for me to make. It takes a long time for my ‘feet’ to get used to a new way of walking the talk. So they encourage me to consider any new shoes very carefully before I buy into them. They also help me wear the shoes a few moments at a time, gradually slackening them off, until I can wear them without blisters for a normal amount of time. They have also offered me shoe stretchers to slacken the shoes off too. Or lovely cushioned insoles and pads that will stop the sore patches happening. They tell me that all of these things can help me accept and get used to the new much quicker. But, be warned, blisters are still a part of change. My Guides know that the rough bits of change – the sores – can also help me to understand that the new will become the old and it will be time for the new again. Each time I get a sore I am finding out about a bit of my life that is uneven, patchy or perhaps in need of some TLC. Sometime it’s the same sore in the same place. Especially when I haven’t really changed my pattern having preferred to stick a plaster on instead.  It’s up to me to notice how many times I’ve reacted in the same old, same old way.

If your ‘shoes’ are creating blisters in your life right now is it time to do things differently. Instead of reaching for the plasters why not see what other choices you have so that your ‘shoes’ fit you comfortably once again?

Day 145 of my blogging challenge.