On Pain (and Love)
And a woman spoke, saying, “Tell us of Pain”. (we’ll get to the love part in just a minute…)
And he said, “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And would you more readily accept the seasons of your heart, as you have always accepted the rhythm of the seasons that pass over your fields? And you would watch with greater peace and serenity through the winters of your grief?
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility: For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.
- A poem from Kahlil Gibran, called: On Pain.
Pain is unpleasant, unavoidable and often unwelcome – and it’s also, as Gibran so eloquently writes, the breaking of the shell that encloses our understanding. If approached with openness, love (I know, it’s Valentine’s day week) and gratitude, pain is the vehicle through which we expand ourselves. Reach a greater potential. And truly grow as human beings (remember, businesses only grow as much as their leaders are willing to grow).
Our condemnation of fully expressing or feeling pain only serves to prolong it and may make it more difficult to deal with than it needs to be, especially if we hold it within ourselves. But that is among the choices we make day to day, and perhaps the lessons we may need to learn in our life are held there in the pain, found only when we intentionally take time to access it, know it and then really feel it.
Pain (discomfort of all types) is there to teach us. And if you avoid the feelings you miss the lesson. When we bring love to our pain, it will heal us. What we experience in the pain will become part of us. And what we share from the pain will show others the way.
Join me in the #NoMatterWhat Community (if you’re not with us already) to be part of a group of individuals who are brave enough to confront and intentionally strive to love their pain and then get to enjoy all the breakthroughs that come from embracing it. We’re all dealing with something (if you’re not now, you have and we all will again) and it helps to be with others that acknowledge what it takes and support each other through it.
To be clear, when I recommend hunting discomfort, I’m not advocating for a painful or uncomfortable life. Quite the opposite. When we avoid, deny or survive the difficult feelings, instead of hunting them, we’re sentenced to not feeling the positive feelings either. When we find the love in ourselves to take the bitter potion that heals our sick self, we’re able to experience the peace, presence and breakthrough results that are on the other side.