Facing pain is a superpower, but I didn’t realize that until very recently. For many people who deal with chronic illness, facing their pain is something that they do all day every day without much thought in a lot of moments. Not because it isn’t incredibly hard and often brutal, because it is. But because sitting with pain and being honest about its persistence is often the best option we have.
The pain we feel in our bodies is often something that we can’t ignore or stuff down like we feel we can with emotional pain. We have to face it. We have to feel it. And if we are brave enough, we are invited to even get curious about it.
The famous poet Rumi said “these pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.”
When we start to feel true pain it is easy to go straight into disbelief, to feel like a victim and let yourself become the pain. I did this for years and after going through heartbreak recently, I found myself right back to that experience again.
When I was diagnosed with psoriasis at the age of ten, I spent much of the next decade in the pain of my diagnosis. I would constantly ruminate in the questions of “why did this happen to me?” or “what did I do to deserve this?” or the always intense “God must have really thought I messed something up to give me all this pain!” To be fair, I was super young and had never done any work on myself. But these feelings felt like the absolute truth and I carried them around with me for many years.
Finally, through a series of events, I started to understand that there was another way. That no matter how horrific it felt to have my body be showing up that way, I didn’t have to let the pain define me. I could choose to see what the pain was there to teach me. Trust me when I say that this is something I fiercely resisted for a long time. It wasn’t like I learned this concept and then just bounced out of bed with a new lease on life. No!
I heard this concept and honestly felt a lot of anger arise. I had felt incredibly justified for being upset about my pain and the thought that I could just *poof* choose something else felt like complete B.S. to me. Not to mention, the pain wasn’t some made up story in my head. The pain was beyond real and excruciating.
But somewhere along the way I became a master of it. I became a master of sitting with the pain in my emotional and physical body, staring it in the face and learning from it. Wow. Just writing that out makes me feel brave and reminds me of all of the brave and beautiful souls in my Chronic (illness) Crew Facebook Group who do the same thing everyday.
So now I want you to think about the pain in your life. I know, it’s not a fun thing to think about, but only by facing it will we truly be able to live a life beyond our pain. Are you resisting it? Are you angry at it? Do you feel heartbroken by it? No answer is wrong, I promise. I just want you to get HONEST about what’s really there for you.
Honesty is another super power that I am learning is not always easy for everyone to face but if we can be honest with ourselves we can unlock the deeper truth that lies within us and that is always going to create more freedom and abundance in your life. Even if it doesn’t look that way initially!
Not sure how to start the process of sitting with your pain and getting honest about how you’re feeling about it? No worries! I have been loving this podcast and the meditations from Live Awake on Soundcloud. They are so deeply powerful and moving, I think you might like them too. There’s one on “Exploring the Wilderness of Your Discomfort” that might be a good place to start. Find a cozy place to sit and listen to this, let it guide you through the exploration of your discomfort. You are brave enough to walk through the pain and sit with it, I promise you that.
Now I want to hear from you below. Have you been accessing your super power and sitting with your pain already? What has that process been like for you? If not, are you noticing feelings come up around your pain while reading this? Share them below! I got you and always answer ever comment myself. Love you sweet things!