I wanted to share a valuable website with my readers: https://pemakhandro.org  Pema Khandro is a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. 

    One of the posts on her site, "Buddhist Advice for Carrying Illness Into the Path," is an informative discussion about how we can use sickness as a spiritual practice.

     To see that there are positive aspects to being ill is not something immediately apparent to a suffering person. But for Pema Khandro, who lists those positive aspects and elaborates on them, they can be methods of spiritual exploration and enlightenment. And anyone can use them - you don't have to be Buddhist or even religious. Look over her list and choose what will work for you.

     Her post also made me think of some saints from my natal Roman Catholic tradition, whose illnesses paved the way to their later high spiritual achievements.  In particular, I thought of Ignatius of Loyola and Francis of Assisi.

     I tried out some of Pema Khandro's suggestions when I was sick recently. I was not consistent in doing them (had a lot of coughing going on, quite a distraction!) but I found that these ideas did "intensify and enrich" my practice. I am grateful to her for her help during the rough patch I was going through. Her advice was a solace and a morale booster.