Would you be surprised to know that pain is one of our greatest teachers? I was, until I allowed myself to embrace its teaching. Fourteen years after my first back injury and the beginning of a long healing journey, I started to become aware of this masterful teacher. I know that most of you would never even consider this true, however like most great lessons, we have to experience them personally to understand what someone else is going through or what value they have. We may resonate with what we read however once we experience something it becomes more than just an idea or concept that we can agree or disagree with, it becomes real, something tangible and undeniable.

It is not enough to have pain to understand what I am saying or to receive its teaching. It requires letting go of resistance, being present with your pain and unafraid or at least willing to feel it. We cannot allow our fear to guide us toward resistance, once we do our pain increases and the possibility of healing decreases.

Many different fears arise when we have pain. For example, we fear that our pain will not go away or that it will get worse. We fear that we are not strong enough to feel it or deal with it. Then there is the unknown or subconscious fear that makes us automatically go into resistance. We believe that if we resist our pain that it will hurt less or go away, however most of the time just the opposite happens. Not only does our pain increase but also we energetically feed the pain pattern with our resistance making it stronger and allowing it to become more deeply rooted in our physical body. Once this occurs it begins to control our mood, behavior and steals our energy. We are more tired and less likely to do anything about it. When this happens, it is not the pain that has defeated us but our resistance to it and our unwillingness to feel it.

Life is not lived without pain, so learn to embrace it for the teacher it is, instead of resisting the truth of the moment. It is not the pain that holds you back it is your perception of the pain. Change your perception about pain and your experience with pain will change. You allow healing to begin when you recognize that your pain is not your enemy and you stop resisting.

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What’s on your mind? I am always open to questions and comments or for a healthy and supportive discussion about these topics.