by LaRue Eppler
first published on Feb 11, 2008

Have you ever had a feeling in your gut that stayed with you for a prolonged period and only got stronger over time? It’s happened to me numerously throughout my life, and it happened again recently. It was intense!

It started out as slight feeling in my solar plexus. At first, it was so subtle that I didn’t really notice it. It was more unconscious, or transparent, than apparent. About a week later, I was beginning to become consciously aware of it, and ten days later, I was experiencing full-blown restlessness and uneasiness.

With the intention to uncover the message behind the restlessness, I did what I always do. I crawled into my cozy, feather bed with my 1000 thread count sheets, and cocooned in my womb of safety.

I asked for a dream to help me get to the root of what I was feeling. I turned out the lights, snuggled in, took a few breaths and placed my full attention on the intense discomfort in my abdomen. I was going to ride the wave of discomfort to its core. After a few breaths, I was fast asleep with no conscious awareness of the uneasiness I had been feeling. A few hours later, I was awakened by a dramatic dream involving my 86 year old mother. The dream rattled my nervous system so much that my fully alert eyes popped open at 5:20 am.

Should I call her? Is she okay? Has she fallen? Did she die in her sleep? What if I call her and she’s dead? What if she has gotten up to go to the bathroom, fallen, and can’t get to the phone? What if I call and I wake her up? What should I do? What would I feel worse about, calling and waking her, or not calling and later discovering that she needed an ambulance? I looked at the clock it was now 5:25 a.m.

I picked up the phone and called. It rang and rang and rang. No answer. I hung up and called back. It rang another 20 times. No answer. Maybe I’m dialing the wrong number. I called again. Another 20 rings later, no answer. Okay, I must notify my sister since she can get to mom faster than I can, I thought to myself.

I wrapped my bathrobe around my shoulders, walked downstairs to retrieve my sisters’ phone number, and I decided to dial mom one more time. She answered!! Whew! Relief!

She told me she had been in a deep sleep and it had taken her a while to get to the phone because she doesn’t have one in her bedroom anymore. You mean you don’t have a phone beside your bed? What if you need to call 911 in the middle of the night?

I apologized for calling and waking her. She assured me it was okay, and told me that she was glad I called “so that you could put your mind to rest.” Before she hung up she asked about the dream that spurred me to call. I told her that she was sick in my dream. Being the direct and hilarious lady that she is, she asked, ‘Was I sick or was I dead?’ We both laughed and said goodbye.

I went back to bed, but couldn’t go back to sleep. That gnawing feeling was still there, even though I knew she was okay. After a discussion with a friend a few hours later, I realized there was something I needed to say to my mother and that the day would not end without me expressing it live and in-person. I flew into action, rearranged my schedule, headed off to Wal-Mart for a new set of phones, and hopped in my car for a little road trip to see my mother.

During my visit, we spoke frankly and openly about death, just as we have for the last four years. She talked about the last time she saw her mother alive. I expressed my gratitude to her for allowing me to talk about the inevitable death of the body that’s to come. I thanked her for not pretending that it isn’t going to happen. She told me she knew it would be good for me to be able to talk about it with her.

Standing at the door as I was saying goodbye, she kissed my lips, three sweet times, and hugged me over and over and over again. She then gently, but firmly, placed one frail little hand on each of my shoulders, looked deeply into my soul and told me why she chose to name me Freida LaRue. I knew a lady named Freida, and she was the softest, sweetest person I had ever met. I liked her so much. She was so kind. And, that’s what you’ve turned out to be. You’re so sweet, so soft, and so kind. I see I chose the perfect name for you.”

She had told me that before, but for the first time in my life, I actually received her communication. We did our final hug, and as I drove away mother, as she always does, blew me kisses until I was out of site.

By the time I got back to Dallas, the feeling in my gut was almost gone. By morning, it had completely lifted and I felt as light as a feather. A shift had occurred. It felt like my life-force energy was flowing again and that all was well. The comfortable, familiar feeling that I have come to know oh-so-well had returned, the feeling of peace.

What happened? Why did the discomfort come? What caused it to lift or dissolve? I may never consciously know all the answers to those questions, but one thing I do know for sure is that a completion needed to take place. The discomfort had shown up to make me consciously aware of the important completion. It caused me to inquire (wonder) and to explore until I got its’ message. I just love the way the Whisper knocks on our door to help us.

Here are three helpful tips for responding to discomfort.

Tip1 – Acknowledge Discomfort

Do you make yourself wrong for uncomfortable feelings? Ever experience fear, guilt, or dread and tell yourself you should be more enlightened—that you should not be having such feelings of low vibration? Recognizing and acknowledging negative sensations IS enlightenment! It means you are awake enough to recognize them. Honor your sensations. Honor where you are so that you can transform them into higher frequency.

Tip 2 – Use Discomfort as a Catalyst for Change or Action

How do you respond to the feeling of discomfort? Do you attempt to ignore it or make it go away? Maybe you try to cover it up with activity, or overindulgence in food or drink?

What if discomfort is actually the key to everything you want?
What if by diving into discomfort it will shift into comfort?

When my discomfort became so strong and I could no longer ignore it, I had to take action. The restlessness caused me to explore why it was present. By doing so, I discovered through a dream that it was associated with my mother. By following the urge to call her, it opened an important and healing dialogue between the two of us.

Tip 3 – Embrace Discomfort-It’s a Messenger

Every feeling is telling you something. Uncomfortable feelings ignored, intensify. When intensified long enough, uneasiness builds to such an extreme level that you MUST take action.

In my case, I needed to see my mother, even though I had just seen her three days prior. I needed to do more than see her; we each had a message for each other.

Discomfort is good. It’s a messenger and a gift. When you embrace the message, the flow of life suddenly returns. What was once blocked is now flowing again and your feeling of well-being quickly returns!

Mother now has three phones -one beside her bed, one in the bathroom, and another in the living room. Maybe she will need it, maybe not. Maybe I needed her to have it for my own comfort. Or, maybe our Higher Selves used it as an excuse for us to have the beautiful heart-to-heart completion.

In our six-week Inner Advantage Training Tele-Course, starting in March, you’ll train yourself to notice and embrace all feelings — the good and the so-called ugly so that you can keep moving forward with your life in the most enchanting ways! Hope to see you there!

This entry is filed under LaRue Eppler, Weekly Whisper Articles.