Learning Southern medical colloquialisms was challenging, but kind of fun. It took me some time to finally understand the sentence, “My waterworks aren’t right.” That could mean anything having to do with the urinary system. “High blood” was hypertension, but “low blood” was anemia, and “bad blood” meant syphilis.
One term that I had to look up was “stone bruise.” What in the world was that? Patients seemed to use it to mean any point-specific foot pain. Further questioning and examination usually revealed a diagnosis of plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the tissue connecting the toes to the heel), hallux valgus (bunion), or metatarsalgia (pain at the ball of one of the toes). Stone bruise meant nothing to me. It actually refers to pain upon stepping on a small rock that hurts immediately and lingers, usually with high impact, like running. It means exactly was it says, a bruise caused by a stone.
We’ve all had pebbles or small rocks get into our shoes. It’s usually sandals or open shoes that do it to me. When it’s raining or muddy, I frequently hike in my Keens, a water sport shoe, but little stones get in there all the time, causing me to stop, take off the shoe, and shake out the rock. It’s amazing how small these pebbles can be. And how utterly annoying they are. The bigger annoyance is when a rock gets into my hiking boot somehow. I have to sit down, unlace the shoe, remove it, turn it upside down, or even remove my sock if it somehow got in there.
Sometimes, if I shake my foot around, I can move the pebble to a location in my shoe so that it isn’t bothersome. The rock usually shifts around to become a nuisance again after some time, but I try.
Those tiny annoying pebbles are like thoughts that keep pricking at your consciousness. What those thoughts are is dependent on who you are and what your particular personality prefers to ruminate one. It may be something you said or did that hurt another. Maybe it’s the memory of a slight from a friend or family member that keeps coming back. A worry that doesn’t ever seem to resolve. A fear that won’t leave you. Something you keep putting off. An injustice. Not being recognized for an accomplishment.
Those little stones, when they get lodged in our brains, can cause a lot of anguish, especially if we keep stepping on them and don’t take the time to remove them. Is that a “brain-stone-bruise?”
So how can you get rid of those bruising, annoying thoughts?
What comes to mind is meditation, prayer, journaling, or meeting with a therapist. Getting the thoughts out of your brain and putting them out to the universe can go a long way. Just writing it, putting words to paper, can chip away at the pebble lodged in your brain. And if you go so far as to burn that paper and watch it turn to ash, you just might remove it.
I dare you to tell a confidante that you have a brain-stone-bruise that you would like to have excised. If you tell your physician that, however, be prepared for a confused reaction.