Some Thoughts About Pain
I was in a chiropractor’s office being worked on, and the doctor, whom I’ve known for years and who helped me rehab from a couple of fractured vertebra, said, “If that was me on the table, I’d be jumping all over from the pain.” I honestly said back to him, “It used to hurt more.” And that got me thinking about how to share with others what to do with pain.
I think the beginning of my path was the Frank Herbert book, Dune, which I read when I was a teenager. It was the first time I encountered the concept of letting pain ‘pass through’. To not be afraid of it. Not hold onto it. Just let it … pass through.
Well, what the heck does that really mean? I had no idea. But I thought it was worth exploring. So I started practicing when the opportunity came along… as it does from time to time when you’re physically active and what they call a ‘risk taker’. At first I was just repeating the Dune words and concept to myself, and the pain was just pain, and there really was absolutely no difference.
But as time went on, it made more sense. Eventually, helping my wife birth three children at home, and learning what the Lamaze people said about breathing through pain, it made even more sense. It certainly made sense to her… on her first trip to the dentist after childbirth, she had them do a filling without anesthetic. Afterward she decided never to do that again. But she did it once, and got through it. Not bad.
I’ve learned through the years something about ’stepping aside’ and letting the pain pass through. I wish I could explain better, but I think it’s just mostly practice. Occasionally I have to ‘be there’ while my chiropractor is working on my back, to consciously relax muscles so the therapy can work better. Admittedly, that’s harder. To ‘be there’ and help, and yet let the pain pass through… it takes very focused concentration. There are more difficult kinds of pain, but that’s hard enough to make it good practice.
Another way I practice that focused concentration is by working out with weights. For each exercise there is one muscle group I want to make do all of the lifting. I want all the rest of my body to stay out of the motion. That may sound easy, but it takes a very long time to even start to do it well. But it ties in nicely with focusing on pain… or away from it… or both at the same time.
Perhaps the hardest kind of pain is long term pain. One’s control seems to come and go, in many cases. Some days you are really on top of it. Others, it can start to get on top of you, and that’s really hard. because you know it will be there for a while. Maybe a long while.
But that’s why it’s good to practice. If you do not have any pain for a long time, you may not be ready to deal with it when it knocks suddenly on your door, as it can in an emergency situation. Pain can overshadow your thinking when it is imperative that you move quickly out of the way of danger, or plan your way out of a bad situation. It would be good to have some control over it. As much control as possible.
I don’t suggest you go looking for pain. It’s not fun, and I don’t like it. But if some should come your way, maybe try to look at it as an opportunity to practice a very valuable skill.
As always, I have an ace in the hole. I know I can ask Him who made all things to heal me, and take away the pain. He has done that more than once, in more than one way. I never know what He is going to do, or how He will do it. But I trust Him, whether or not the pain goes away instantly… and even though I know that some day, the only release will be death. That, I admit, is something that is very hard to practice for. But I know that smiling helps.
