How do I deal with Pain?

I am talking of EMOTIONAL pain…  emotional pain causes physical pain and unhealed emotional pain may cause physical illness…

Things happen in life and we cannot avoid pain.

Pain is a wound in our heart. Pain is many times unbearable. Pain can be so strong that we might feel we’re gonna die.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Fisrt: Breathe.

Breathe into your pain, hold her. Be compassionate with yourself. Surrender in cherishing arms if you have them, in your own arms if you don’t.

Breathe… Stay there and breathe…You don’t have to do anything, you don’t need to react… Just cradle your pain… Focus on the healing power of your inhalation and your exhalation…

 

Buddhists indeed say that life IS suffering. It is their FIRST TRUTH: Life IS suffering.

Let’s see what we can learn form them:

The first suffering is the suffering of suffering: the pain of being hurt, the pain of not being happy.

The second suffering is the suffering of change: growing old, knowing (and fearing) that nothing lasts…

The third suffering is the suffering of uncertainty and anxiety: knowing that lots of things that happen to us are out of our control,that they depend on a vast network of causes and conditions we cannot control.

The SECOND TRUTH is that there is a cause of suffering: Attraction and Aversion. That is: our Attachment. That is: our inability to recognize that everything is impermanent (even our pain!). We accord much importance to things that are attractive or aversive, we desire them or dread them, as if they had a nature… but they don’t… everything is selfless and interdependent. We treat change as something to be resisted rather than accepting that it is the very nature of our lives.

The THIRD TRUTH is that there is a release from suffering: we can’t eliminate pain nor change from our lives, but we can reduce the suffering they cause, how? Understanding and accepting reality as it is: impermanent, selfless, interdependent.

The FOURTH TRUTH is that we can remove our confusion through the EIGHTFOLD PATH which consists principally of: action (right action, right speech), thought (right view, right meditation) & mindfulness.

So relief of suffering can be found in accepting change, accepting that nothing IS good or bad, desirable or dreadful, cultivating faith and our ability to adapt, learn, forgive & grow.

The relief of suffering can also be found in cherishing arms & self compassion, because love cures fear and pain…

If you are often in pain, you might consider learning from the Buddhist truths and when pain hurts you, turn to your self-love and the arms of your loved-ones.

 

 

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