The Great Teacher, Pain

"It is important when pain comes our way

to honor the experience 

as it is usually a great teacher."

Madisyn Taylor

Daily Om

Pain as a teacher can be a brutal master ... spiritual, emotional, physical or any combination of the three.  The onset might be slight, but if ignored, it will grow with intensity.  Finally having our attention, we, as students, must decipher the lesson found in pain.

The doctors hand us a bag of drugs as though it were candy for a child.  "Don't eat them all at once," he says, "or they will make you sick.  Just have one spaced with time before you have another."  Resistance to ingesting harmful substances into the body, allows pain to get ahead of us.  

Some therapists will hear our pain and in addition to therapy prescribe anti-depressants or anxiety medications to balance our emotions.  Too often, people become dependent upon these drugs without ever resolving what caused the situation to begin with.

In efforts to find release, we may turn to a minister who suggests we be patient as God never gives us anything we cannot handle.  We are directed to prayer and when it is not answered, we wonder if anyone is truly listening.

It is discouraging to be suffering from any kind of pain and not be cognizant of the point in it all.  We may not have an understanding until the incident is long in our past.  Only with hindsight is the importance of the experience realized.  

We all experience pain in one way or an other, and we react to it in differing ways.  We can hide, ignore, or become obsessed with our issues.  Everyone in the community may know or no one might be aware, but either way has its repercussions.  

There are no magic wands, but comfort can be found in simply being gentle with ourselves.  Remember all humans experience pain, so even if it seems as though we have been deliberately singled out, this simply isn't true.  We are not stupid, insensitive, nor inadequate.  We are spiritual beings in a human form learning through this earthly experience.  We can bring comfort to ourselves through music, writing, delving into nature, time with a trusted friend or seeking professional help.  We must discern how to best resolve  our problems.  Taking action is the key.