Leaving Pain Behind
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving forward.”
Albert Einstein
The goal of the healing journey is not to rid yourself of your pain. In fact, there is no goal because there is no beginning or end to it. The only “goal” is to live your life fully today with the deck of cards you have been dealt—with or without your pain. You must keep moving forward to move through and past your pain.
The brain treats emotional and physical pain in a similar manner and the body’s physiological response is the same. So, even you were to be rid of your physical symptoms, the quality of your life would not change as much as you might think. The emotional circuits will keep firing in response to day-to-day stresses.
Moving on
So, if you can’t fix yourself and there is no “goal”, what can you do? The patients who were successful in regaining their lives just moved on—with or without their pain. Paradoxically, there was a much higher chance they would leave it behind. Your incredibly adaptable brain develops wherever you place your attention.
There are many ways to redirect. Some include:
- Mindfulness—active meditation
- Meditation
- Visualization
- Engaging with family and friends in meaningful ways
- Awareness—simply watching where your attention is focused allows you to redirect it
- Play.
Play
Play circuits are also permanent and are present to a greater of lesser degree in everyone. Reconnecting with them, with or without your pain, is a powerful way out of pain. These circuits do get buried under the weight of life stresses, but you can create a shift back onto them with specific tools and repetition.
This does not mean obsessively engaging in play to distract yourself. Rather, it is a mindset of wonderment and curiosity. Your body chemistry will shift to safety hormones and an anti-inflammatory state, your brain will be less sensitized, nerve conduction improves, and your pain can dramatically decrease or resolve.
Nurturing the part of your brain that enjoys life is a learned skill. That is why it is so critical what you choose to program it with. If your default state of mind is that of being agitated and upset, that is what will evolve. As you trigger the same response in those close to you, then there is no end to this universal ping-pong game. Conversely, if you choose gratitude and joy, the same phenomenon will lift you upward.
Source; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxiety-another-name-pain/202203/leaving-pain-behind
Reflection;
This article mentions the devastating effect painful memories can have on our life if we cling onto the pain and never find a way to move on. I understood that our brain treats emotional pain just as it would physical pain. Some ways of moving on are mentioned in this article as well.
What do you think would help you move on from a painful/traumatic experience?
#Pain #Trauma #MentalHealth
@comfortableNight4463
I always like to say time is the best medicine. Some pains and trauma are permanent but the amazing things about our body and mind is that we're able to adapt and change to circumstances in the present. Understand your pain and trauma and having hope that one day it'll be better than today is a great way for at least me to move on and deal with it.
@sunnyWriting4806
I completely agree with you! I also think that understanding the pain and having hope that one day will be better can be a powerful tool. I loved the sentence in the article that says: Nurturing the part of your brain that enjoys life is a learned skill. I think that a person needs to have hope in order to move on and try their best. Some wounds can only be healed by time, but it is important not to give up.
@sunnyWriting4806 I completely agree!
@comfortableNight4463 I think moving on from a painful or traumatic experience varies from person to person. I know time helps lessen grief, but I think forgiveness on ourselves and others is really important too. There is no right or wrong way to heal from trauma and it's important to be kind to ourselves throughout the healing process.
@fruityPond7887
This is right! We need to show self-compassion throughout the whole healing time and we need to realize that there is no correct way how to heal.
@globalBraid3744 Agreed. Everyone heals differently.
@globalBraid3744 Exactly! I especially hate it when people are hard on themselves if maybe they don't cry or something like that. Sometimes we can be in shock and the tears may not come until later or never at all and that's okay too!
