For someone who “gets people out of pain” (and quickly, too) that may sound backwards. Hang with me for a moment. We’ve become extremely pain averse in the modern world and I believe it’s costing us our health and freedom.
I believe the fastest path to physical, psychological and emotional freedom (which are ALL connected) happens when we get curious about our pain instead of reactive to it.
In other words, when we stop fixating on getting out of pain and instead turn towards it with curiosity, pain can reveal how we’re moving through life and where we are out of integrity with ourselves (physically, mentally, emotionally etc). Then we have a choice: accept the pain of where we are, or choose the pain that comes with growing.
I believe pain is a message from our body, psyche or spirit asking us to wake up and address something we’ve been unconscious about. That message could be as simple as “your calf fascia has a knot in it from all that running, it’s pulling on your patella (knee cap) and causing you that knee pain” or as complex as “when you were a child you didn’t feel safe to feel anything, so you pushed those emotions down and stopped feeling much except that increasing anxiety asking you to wake up and live!”
Pain is a request for consciousness.
If we try to shut it up or avoid the pain (which most of us do, I mean – think about how many people immediately ice or brace an injury, go to doctors and psychiatrists asking for pain pills and surgery, or turn to food, tv or brain-altering drugs to escape reality), we miss the message, we don’t expand our consciousness and in the long game of life we may experience temporary relief, but we pay the price with less freedom and less confidence as we age.
I believe pain isn’t the problem; it’s actually the “cure.” And there’s always a gift in it! This was true for me, and I bet it’s true for you too.
This path isn’t for the feint of heart, though; it’s for people who are obsessed with freedom and committed to living their best possible lives. To get out of pain we have to be willing to go into it. Our courage to do so is rewarded with ever-expanding freedom and joy.
I’d like to share my story with you because I took the long road here by avoiding my pain for many years. I let pain and fear shrink my world until joy and freedom had no place in it. Maybe I did so you don’t have to.