Point of Pain.

Pain is a necessary component to life, demanding attention, altering our wills, found in various forms, grabbing each one of us where we needed it the most. Physical pain may have been enough to get us to stop one behavior, yet, others need mental anguish to grasp theirs, forcing a deeper look into self. Other's live in pain like a badge of some sort, a low sense of self, unworthy of peace. 

What I am proposing here is not merely another avoidance of pain, but an acceptance of it. Accepting that pain, in this life, is natural, and should be expected. Pain is not the opposite of pleasure, but another “offshoot” of the human condition. A contingency to our, “best laid plans," and more fascinating than pleasure. Pleasure is too obvious, too abrasive and brash, supposedly “enhancing” our situation and distracting our wills. Feeling good is as temporary as feeling bad, though we minimize both outside of the moment. In a moment of pain we feel there is no worse, in the moment of pleasure we can feel no better, and even the pain isn’t, “that bad.” 

Accepting is not a distraction, merely acknowledging that which is already apparent. To distract, solve, or avoid, we are in other words, accepting and acknowledging, but passively and only as a way to remedy. No, that is not what I am proposing with pain. Pain is a dish best served fresh, needing to be understood and consumed as it was intended. Pain cannot be disguised with spice or sweetener, it has to be consumed in whole, for no leftovers will make it through the night. Pain cannot be saved for later, for no baggie system or Tupper wear is capable of freshly preserving its pungentness. The timeliness of the meal of pain as apparent as the sting, for pain always seems to strike us at the worst time, when it could have happened…..never, for it is never a dish we choose. This adds to the meal.

What is this pain we tolerate, denounce, discount as significant in our lives? What is this thing that is different for everyone at different intensities where one can only assume outside of ones own experience? The largest difference is the light at the end of the tunnel, the destination that pain leads to, for if this is not found, that acute pain turns into chronic suffering.

The reason pain has to be dealt with, eaten and digested as once, is because it will manifest otherwise, fermenting inside the body. Attempted to be ignored, it is still there and it grows more foul with age. Pain handled, understood, respected, leads to a conclusion of a stronger person. The one who sees pain as pointless, suffers. Disregarding something as evident as pain  also discounts tolerance and understanding of pain. What is painful might be useful if you look from the context of a successful person in spite of the pain they built upon. What seems wrong, or "unfair" is the person getting all they ever wanted with no pain, no sacrifice, no experience of loss. 

Pain, as useful for the human condition, is right. What is wrong, is to think we deserve anything less. Pain is not the needle passing through the skin, the thick oily substance being injected into tissue for a purpose of muscle growth, but the motive behind such barbaric actions. The motive of needing something the body unable to do on its own. A need to be something else, other than what was given. All of us, our DNA, our genetic ability, a pain, for it is not where we set our standards, therefore we are suffering, for WE are faulty. 

Pain is not always pleasurable, however can get our attention to dedicate energies to something that will provide pleasure later, maybe not what we expected, but what we needed. Click HERE for a testament and some strategies to learn from and tolerate the pain of an inadequate self.