Feel the pain

A tiny pouch that contained tablets and ointments that could be used for ailments ranging from minor cuts to allergic cold. This was the medical kit I remember carrying since my school days which I reached out to every time I faced a difficulty. There was a medical solution for all the physical problems I ever had to endure. Years later, I came across a friend of mine who had a policy exactly opposite of what I had. He’ll touch a medicine only if he thinks he is going to die! He led a healthy life based on a combination of rest, natural remedies and drinking lots of water.

I was quite inspired by my friend and decided to give it a try. Needless to say it was quite a challenge not to reach out to the medical kit in order to relieve my body of a pain by popping in a tiny tablet. Pain in all forms started screaming to my brain to reach out to the medicines each time when there was a feeling. It must have been quite a struggle for my brain cells to overcome the feeling of addiction to such medicines as against the alternate ways of treatment that can still help in alleviating the agony. Though I’ve not been fully successful I am quite happy to tell you that there is a significant reduction in my medicine intake from the day when I tried to tame my brain to alternate pain relievers than depending on the tablets.

Apply this thought to our daily life. We all face pains in many forms and shapes every day. These could be in the form of issues with our partners, arguments with our parents, struggles with our kids and conflicts with our bosses to name a few. Let us ask ourselves this question. What is the practice that we follow for easing the pain? Do we take a shortcut and swallow a bitter pill of distress or do we take an alternate route of tolerance that leads us to a path relieved of pain? The choice is ours.

If we choose to reach out to the kit that has an instant solution through a shortcut we may possibly get rid of the pain, but a bitter aftertaste will remain as a part of our life. Alternately if we let ourselves feel the pain and find alternate ways of reducing it, I’m sure it’ll be an experience of a life time which will leave us with a smile.

The bigger question now is how do we get rid of the pain if not for the shortcut? There isn’t a single answer to this question. Each one of us are blessed differently in finding alternate ways of pain relieving mechanisms. This is possibly a good mental exercise that you could apply. When you are in a relatively pleasant mood, sit down and think of various scenarios mentioned above. More importantly, try to recollect how did you react to each of the situation? Try to create a list of these either in your mind or write them down.

Once you’ve the list ready, think of an alternate way by which you could’ve responded to the situation instead of reacting. As mentioned earlier, each one of us may find different solutions to the same challenge. For some, it could be getting away from the situation so that they can think with a clear head; whereas for others it could be taking a deep breath and starting all over again to see the issue in a different light. In the long run, there are many who believe in the power of exercise and yoga to help them gain better control over their mind to respond in such situations.

Whatever may be the solution you apply, each one of them reminds us of an interesting fact. It is quite important that you feel the pain so that you can think through it rather than evading it by applying a shortcut just to crop up again sometime in future to pester you. Ironic enough, a comparable thought is to a wound that is never healed which gets opened again with every scratch as against another one which you allow to heal completely that won’t bother you ever again!

It is absolutely important to train ourselves not to apply shortcuts, be it in the form of unnecessary medicines for pain or for situations we face every day in our life. May you have the courage to feel the pain and find alternate means that provide us with peace that lasts for a life time!

God bless.