Anatomy of Pain
I think that it is useful to share a bit about the many faces of pain.
When I was very young, I had a long way to walk to go to my grade school. On the way, I would pick up my friend and we would walk together. This particular day, I was early and he was not ready so I took off my gloves as I waited, and threw them on the floor. As the time came to put them on again, I reached down my hands ... fingertips first ... and my fingernail caught a sliver from the old oak trim around their door. You can imagine how much it hurt as the sliver ran completely under the nail of my middle finger and protruded out the skin just before my first knuckle. To my surprise, it made an impression on me that lasted my whole life.
In the early 1990's, I was seriously Church hopping. Every week I would visit a different church in my area looking for a place to hang my Spiritual hat. One week I was sitting in the congregation of the Unity Church (not to be confused with Unitarian) and the sermon was entitled "God is good ... all the time." As I listened to the minister stressing the ALL of all the time, I wondered "Okay God, where is the good in that sliver experience?" That is when this realization came to me ... maybe pain has at least four faces.
4 faces of pain
- Infraction Pain ... Pain of original offense. The pain associated with the sliver entering my body was memorable.
- Festering Pain ... After the original offense, my finger throbbed all the time it took me to get medical attention.
- Remedial Pain ... At the clinic, the doctor proceeded to cut away the nail (to gain access to the sliver) and then extract the sliver with tweezers. This corrective procedure was the most painful as I recall.
- Healing Pain ... Even after the sliver was out and the wound was cleaned, there was still pain in the finger that lasted until the wound had healed. Sometimes it would feel as if the sliver was still in the wound but it was just a phantom pain.
As I sat in the church pew considering this perspective, it occurred to me that this was a useful metaphor for me when I strayed from my path to Joy. ACIM teaches that "If I am in pain, I am in error.". The extent of my pain is in direct relation to my separation from my Essential Self, my Christ Within.
When I am anything less than Joyful, I ask myself "What kind of pain am I experiencing right now?" "What is the lesson that is being offered?"
I guess the logical takeaway, from my perspective, is that pain isn't necessarily a bad thing if it leads you to a thought process that brings you to a happier state of mind and ultimately healthier behaviour which then serves to create a happier, more joyous experience. In fact, we get to manage the pain and we get to decide what kind of pain we are experiencing by deciding what happens next.
What I have also found in the past is that subtle offenses and injuries can go unnoticed and accumulate and fester. Like grains of sand accumulating in my pocket at the beach. One extra grain is quite tolerable and I think that there is nothing to worry about. But over time the pain can get wearing and even unbearably heavy.
What kind of pain are you experiencing now? Where is your opportunity for growth?
The take away here is that, I have experienced that, with little practice I can manage my internal dialogue ... the way I talk to myself ... and turn every kind of pain into healing pain.
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