First, thanks to each of you who responded to the question yesterday about pain.  It is part of the universal human experience, and yet, it is something we seldom, if ever, discuss ... unless it's in a whine or rant mode.   In exploring the blogs at Mindsay, as might be expected, there is a lot of pain evident, so I thought I'd bring it out in the open.  Let's talk about pain!  NO SOLUTIONS - just questions ...

Shame:  I am certainly NOT an authority on pain, but I have lived long enough to  have experienced a moderate amount (whatever that means) of both physical and emotional pain.  Problem is ... I don't know if it's just me, but ... it seems like somehow we believe (collectively) that pain is a result of either poverty, an unsavory lifestyle or a lack of "will power".  This means that those who live with pain experience some degree of shame ... like it's their fault.  Shame only adds to the pain because it makes us want to hide the pain, to shove it down inside of us, or just plain ignore it.  It's like ... "OK, so you lost a loved one. Deal with it and SMILE!"  or "You really should be over that by now.  Let it go and be happy!"  What is the shame of pain?  Or is that just the pain others experience?

Benefits:  There is the beneficial side of pain.  Pain can teach us important lessons, for example, that fire is hot!  We've each been rejected at one time or another.  That hurts, but what do we do with that pain?  We can learn compassion for the rejection others have experienced, or we can learn hardness toward others.  We can gain strength from our pain and allow it to build "character", or be broken by it.  I'm not sure if that is just a matter of will or what??? 

Purpose:  A very important thing, I think, is that NO PAIN, is irrelevant.  Children learn about pain at an early age.  They're hungry;  they cry; they're fed.  OR  They're hungry; they cry; and nothing happens - at least nothing good.  Babies often get earaches.  We can give them some tylenol or advil and the pain is minimized ... but the earache is still there.  We can medicate our pain, but the source is still present.  Sometimes, I think we're better off to "embrace" the pain and let it teach us the required lesson, but then ... how do we know if and when we've gotten to the source of the pain.  We treat the earache and find it returns in a month.  Then what? 

Abuse:  The pain of abuse is an altogether different subject because it destroys the will and even the personality of the victim.

Choices:  As I said ... I am NOT an authority on pain.  I only know the choices I make in regards to pain, and they're not always GOOD decisions.  There are times I'll grab a vicodin (because I hoard them) knowing full well it will not touch the pain I'm feeling at that moment because it's an emotional hurt ... and still I take it.  Most of the time, my life currently is relatively pain-free, so when I FEEL hurt, I sometimes over react. 

 Is numb better than pain?

OK ... end of rambling ... YOUR turn!  Your ramblings about pain? 

~ B