A reader of Body Odyssey: Lessons from the Bones and Belly wrote this week that a friend gave her the book three years ago “when I was laid up for 65 days with a herniated disc. Good reading and page 192 became my mantra: my illness was a drama for others in my life more than it was for me. I was missing that until I read it in your book. Thanks for sharing yourself in print.”What the reader who wrote to me was referring to was a section that described how everything becomes more simplified and less stressful in a way when our busy lives are on hold because of illness. I wrote what I was lying on the couch sick and that my body felt like “such a blob, a weighted piece of body mass sprawled here on the couch.” I described how relaxed I felt: “No state of vigilant readiness is necessary to respond to what life might demand next.” I added that “this pervasive state of relaxation feels unfamiliar. I cannot work. I cannot do for others. I cannot perform or impress anyone with my knowledge, my words, or my cleverness. I cannot muster my usual hurry up and get things done mode. No effort is possible. No effort is required. No effort is…effortless.”Reflecting back on this experience, I are reminded that although illness often becomes a drama for us or those around us, it doesn’t have to be. If we stay present to our experience, surrendering to the “now” moment, the drama has no stage on which to play out. Illness tends to bring our attention into the present moment, sometimes because of the pain, sometimes because of the lethargic state our body is in. The curtain is drawn shut on all the other “busy” stuff that usually occupies our body and mind. Our daily drama has no energy and no audience. Instead we experience a kind of stillness that’s restful and unrushed.Others around us may get in a dither, creating their own drama. Caregivers often do. But they also can settle into the present moment, doing one thing at a time mindfully, by making less “effort” and exploring more the art of living effortlessly.I’m also reminded that illness often shows up when we’re operating in high-stress mode. Our big dramas wear us down and we become sick. Maybe our bodies just trying to stay STOP creating so much unhealthy drama. We don’t have to wait for illness to stop us though. We can remember that effortless, relaxed state without getting sick. It’s a lot less painful living that way.