Stuck In The Mud: Staying In Pain

[Guest guest]

Stuck In The Mud: Staying In Pain

 

 

Pain comes and it goes. It is just one component to the grand cycle

of life. And when experienced as

 

such, pain can serve as an important teacher. It is when we get stuck

in our pain that it becomes

 

detrimental to our well-being and development. If you notice that you

feel closed-off, resentful,

 

heavy-hearted, or that you try very hard to avoid being hurt again,

there may be a part of you that

 

is still stuck in pain.

 

We can get stuck in our pain for many reasons. As children, it was

natural for us to cry, throw a

 

tantrum, and let the experience move through us. By fully feeling our

pain in this way, our emotions

 

would wash us clean, leaving us open and available to new

experiences. With age, though, we might

 

have determined that expressing emotion was no longer appropriate,

and so we developed a variety of

 

coping strategies to deal with our discomfort. We may have learned to

stuff our feelings down or to

 

run away from them. Perhaps we began thinking that staying closed and

unwilling to try new things

 

would keep us safe from heartbreak, safe from rejection, and safe

from failure. We may have even

 

gotten so used to being in pain that the thought of being without it

scares us. But, if we continue

 

to hold onto it longer than necessary, we are expending a lot of

energy that could instead be

 

channeled into making our life experiences more positive.

 

If you notice that you are continually connecting with the same

familiar patterns of pain, consider

 

embracing your feelings and letting go of your hurt. Whether your

pain is from childhood or from an

 

experience last week, see if you can give it room to move. When it

does, you will reconnect with a

 

wonderful source of your own vital energy.