Today I want to talk about pain.
Yes, I know you don't like it and you do everything you can to avoid it. However, no matter how hard you try...you will experience it. Sometimes this agony is physical, sometimes it is emotional and on occasion, it is both!
Our culture (in the United States anyway) is constantly trying to erase pain at all costs. We live in fear of this unfortunate feeling constantly, I believe.
Freud spent an enormous amount of time thinking about the avoidance of it and used it formulate his theory of the 'Pleasure Principle.'
I work in a hospital environment nowadays and the amount of narcotic medication I observed being prescribed for patients really reinforces this idea I have about how poorly we value pain.
Value in pain, you ask? Aaron, are you serious? Yes, value exists. You see pain is a response to stimuli. It's trying to tell you something and IT wants you to listen!
What is it trying to tell you? IT needs you to do something, like maybe stop that behavior your participating in..right now! Whether it is pulling your hand away from a fire or destroying your liver through heavy and constant alcohol consumption.
IT wants you to change. Hmm...it's a change agent, interesting concept, right?
Let's apply this to something more subjective. After all, pain is highly subjective isn't it? What I find painful, may not be as painful for you.
So what about pain and mental illness? Perhaps when we experience depression or anxiety, it's our mind's way of telling us we need to change something. Maybe we need to change our eating habits (I know I have experienced this when I have ingested too much caffeine) or exercise habits (depression and lack of exercise).
Maybe our mind is telling us that something more radical needs to be done, such as changing our brain chemistry. Regardless, it's not just a state of being which needs to be avoided or combated at all costs, it is a coach that is asking something of us.
By doing so, we not only allow pain to be a positive force for change but we build our resiliency capacity.
The next time pain speaks, I encourage you to listen, rather than just run away.
Sherpa's Corner
Cognitive Dissonance - On Values and Beliefs
Letting Go of Control (Sort of)
Digital Consumption: Procrastinating Like A Champ
On Envy
