Pain and suffering will visit you at various times in your life, and it's thus of significant consequence to understand what you're meant to learn from such experiences. Pain can be a valuable teacher, and it's important to allow your teacher in when it knocks on your door.
Our "somatic self" orchestrates the activities of our body, and our "cognitive self" orchestrates the activities of our rational mind. When we feel healthy and fulfilled these two aspects of the self work together in a cooperative partnership, and life is grand. When the cognitive self fails to respond to the promptings of the somatic self, pain and suffering are sure to follow.
A burst of adrenalin and short breaths lets "me" know my somatic self is feeling overwrought. A release of norepinephrine and a deep breath, is the body's way of signaling its feeling safe and relaxed. Such communication is simple and clear, IF we are able to pay attention to what the body has to say.
Because our cognitive self is so busy attempting to fulfill our worldly needs, it often fails to slow down, appreciate, and heed the communication of its somatic partner. When we fail to respond to the promptings of our somatic self, our "dis-ease" increases, until such time that we're forced to pay attention. Pain is not a punishment. Pain is a signal that lets us know we're building up excess energy that needs to be released. Our suffering informs our self-partnership that it must find better ways to care for the self. The stronger the pain, the clearer the message. "We need to redirect our life energy!"
Beyond being an opportunity to deepen and strengthen our self-partnership, pain and suffering also usually signal the need to revitalize our partnership with others. Supportive caring relationships are a biological necessity and not a luxury. No matter how well balanced we feel on our own, we need others to help complete us. We need others to help us find our rightful place in the world, and feel truly at home. To be genuinely happy and healthy, we need to expand our sense of self to include all those that play a significant role in our life.
Because pain "hurts like hell", it might seem counter-intuitive to acknowledge that pain gives us the opportunity to decrease our suffering. Without our pain to awaken us to the possibility of a fuller life, we would cumulatively suffer more over time.
Rather than attempting to avoid or eliminate the discomfort you sometimes feel, please consider the possibility of embracing your suffering. I realize this idea might seem flippant or naïve. I'm not suggesting your anguish should be an occasion for celebration. Instead, if you can realize the essential human need you have for a loving cooperative partnership with self and others, you can begin to experience your pain as a wake-up call from life. The stronger your discomfort, the stronger the wake-up call! Pain is like an alarm clock that starts out with a soft buzzing sound that becomes louder and louder, until you finally get up out of bed and start your day. When you experience your pain alarm clock going off please appreciate that you're being called to wake up to the fullness of life! Your pain is a positive message that lets you know it's time to make some important changes in the way you live. The greater your pain, the greater your capacity to feel joy and fulfillment. Your heart is calling out to be healed. Please answer this call for help with love and compassion.~C. Badenhop. Seishindo Newsletter
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i found god in myself/and I loved her/i loved her fiercely--Ntozake Shange
"Pain is like an alarm clock that starts out with a soft buzzing sound that becomes louder and louder, until you finally get up out of bed and start your day. When you experience your pain alarm clock going off please appreciate that you're being called to wake up to the fullness of life!
Your pain is a positive message that lets you know it's time to make some important changes in the way you live.
um....soft buzzing sound...that gets louder and louder...Well...theres a bees nest outside my bedroom window...
And the first craving of the morning is to have honey on toast....with green tea...but the problem is...one needs a maid eh...
Important changes....lets see....
Beat the alarm clock to death with a hammer....take the phone off the hook...and go back to bed...
Yaaa...thatll work....:)
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"LOVE" devoid of self-gratification, is in essence, the will, to the greatest good...of another.
I have been going through a REALLY ROUGH time emotionally lately. I realized one day that I had been 'running' from something... and i just let myself kinds 'sit' on it for a day, and naturally, it reared its ugly head.
I have been triggered by various things the past few weeks and it has been uncomfortable. I got to a point where not only did I HAVE to start tryiong to meditate, however falteringly... and I also ALLOWED myself to feel heavy, sleep a lot... I isolated EXCEPT I made myself get to a meeting every day, sometimes 2. I cried to my sponsor. I just let myself feel miserable without picking up, even though it was hard at certain hours.
I learned a lot from the past few weeks. I am feeling a lot of relief right now, and I feel the 'weight' that you spoke of lifting.
I can identify with the somatic self part... I had felt during this time achey and listless and groggy. I even had a lymph gland swell up a little bit... I have had these before, and had them checked and re-checked... it is not a common occurence, but it does happen, say, once every few years. I was told that my body just does this when I am 'fighting something off'... that the lymbic system was simply 'carrying something away..."
Anyway, I felt like there were weights on my limbs... and it was more centered in my thinking or lack thereof, to come up with a positive thought...
All in all, I figured that TIME would help this come to pass, and when I stopped trying to run around and 'do' my way out of the funk, it did go away. The funk went away once I let myself just embrace it. I just told myself the past 2 days, "I am sick of this, but I am just going to LET IT...." and it began to lift significantly today.
Thank you for the post, again, I could really relate to it today.
