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Reputation of Pain

If you have no pain, then your chance of being happy increases. Is that what life is all about? Being happy. what about living a meaningful life? Doing something meaningful should involve giving up things that represent happiness even for a short period of time. So, pain will be part of any meaningful action. are you already confused? you shouldn't ! here is a example:
You have been married for many years and an attractive lady offers you a sexy date! if you are interested in happiness alone, you may join this lady in this "temporary" ride of joy. however, if you choose to stay loyal to your wife you need to put up with pain of trying to fix your fluctuating relationship which may take years before you succeed. So, why it is hard for many of us to accept the later choice over the former ? I think this has something to do with our perception of pain. Many cultures describe pain as a one sided matter: suffering. however, other cultures consider pain as an unavoidable component of human's growing up journey. In these cultures, pain can help us to be closer to God. If I thought of a way to understand pain better I would say that it is an indicator of energy consumption in our bodies, once understood and accepted it can improve quality of life rather than degrade it.
Reaching this depends on our brave decision of accepting pain that comes with our struggle to promote good causes as a necessity . Yesterday, I hit a wooden door with my foot and was injured. I am still suffering as I write these words and I still think that pain reputation has been tortured and deserves to be cleaned by re-educating ourselves about our most loyal companion of growing up rather than just growing old.

  1. Thank you for these encouraging words. I've long been a proponent of radical acceptance regardless of circumstance. Many years ago I learned that staying calm through the worst of an attack actually reduced my perception of suffering and pain. Over time I learned to go further by embracing the pain for what it is. Working WITH an attack rather than against it (that doesn't mean I don't take meds!) helps improve my physical response as well as my mood and state of mind. Last June I wrote a post about making peace with migraine and accepting its role in our lives. Nice to meet a kindred spirit!

    Tammy Rome

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