When the family of Lori Palatnik (who videoblogs on Aish, a Jewish website) went through multiple bed bug treatments and still had bed bugs, her child asked,

“Would you figure out what G-d is telling you, so we can get rid of these bed bugs?!?”

Palatink’s idea is that there must have been some reason why the bed bug treatment wasn’t working (she had four treatments in all), and she suggests the persistent infestation meant each family member was holding on to “something” they needed to let go of.  She says,

There’s always a physical reason why things happen, and a deeper spiritual one.

Personally, if my bed bugs did not respond to multiple treatments, the message to me would be: you still have bed bugs. Get the best help you can.  Don’t give up.

You need the best professional you can find, you need to do what they tell you, and you need to make sure you aren’t being continually reinfested from a current source (neighbors, workplace, school, etc.)

I do think for many of us, having bed bugs can have a spiritual component.   Some have found some kind of meaning in their bed bug struggles.  Many have reported going through a bed bug infestation helped them become less attached to their belongings, or helped them move on to a clutter-free life.  More power to them!

The problem, for me, is suggesting that if someone has a persistent bed bug infestation that they are somehow responsible, in the sense that there is some spiritual issue causing the persistent problem.

Not so!

Bed bugs are, quite simply, persistent.  While smart, careful PCOs can often clear bed bugs more swiftly, needing 3-4 treatments is not uncommon.  (If you need more, I would be quite worried that reinfestation was occurring, perhaps via neighbors; in some cases, if the problem is not going away after many treatments, it may mean that your PCO did not know what they were doing.)

If you have bed bugs after a few treatments, I would absolutely look to the practical, physical causes.  I would not assume that my own spiritual state of mind was keeping me from success.

See Lori Almost Live “What’s Bugging You?” on Aish.com.

*Note: this is the 1,000th post on Bedbugger.com.*  Thanks, as always, for reading!Similar Posts:

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