How to tell if you've been poisoned or cured

A cure gives some kind of insight into a hard knot of a problem you thought was impossible. If you follow the insight, you will feel great sorrow or grief because that's what's in knots. Knots made to hold the wind, for instance, will always have some grief seep into them eventually. Untying an old one on a calm sea will make you weep, make the ship creak. But if you let yourself cry, on the other side is peace.

Poison leaves you some trouble that must now be overcome, an antidote must be found or the effects must be waited out. If you make it through the poison, you will have proven something to yourself. You will know more. You will have developed a skill or an ability you didn't have before. And now that you have the skill the poison gave you, you'll be asked to use that skill. Be warned; skills learned from poison are rarely for nice situations, although once I did learn embroidery from a poisonous relationship. If you use your skill well and wisely, you'll find you have changed some small part of the world, accomplished something more difficult than you thought you were capable of. And if you let yourself appreciate that, you will find peace.