#603 Healthy Relationship with CHRONIC Pain

     CHRONIC pain is fascinating - IF we don't allow it to automatically shut us down. By "shut us down" I include all of our usual mindless behaviors: anger, blaming, popping pills, otherwise "self-medicating", complaining, playing the victim, withdrawing, etc, etc.
     WHAT IF we DIDN'T judge chronic pain to be a terrible mistake? What if we simply didn't know what to make of it - drew no conclusions, made no judgments? The fact is, we don't know much at all about our generally unexamined life. 
     For one thing, we typically mistakenly OVERREACT to CHRONIC pain as though it were acute - yet it's sending us a TOTALLY DIFFERENT message, about a completely different situation.
     ACUTE pain signals an emergency. It's an alarm bell screaming at us to stop everything & immediately look after a potentially life-threatening injury.
     CHRONIC pain, far from being an emergency, is an ongoing reminder that we need to address existential issues in this lifetime. 
     To the extent we mindfully open our mind-heart to the reality of sickness, aging, and death, we heal into wholeness. 
     To the extent that we refuse to do so, and (like heroin addicts, we) aggressively demand a "cure" - escape from reality, OR become cynically embittered by life, we suffer. 
     The CHOICE is entirely ours - let's make it intelligent!

#311 Fearful Child & Wise Grandparent - We're Both, & We Can Mature Amazingly

     Since none of us has perfect genes, nor received perfectly consistent unconditional love, etc, we're all traumatized to some degree from birth. So we have within each of us, an "inner child" who feels alone & afraid in what appears to be a hostile universe. Successful, otherwise confident, middle-aged professionals, can instantly transform into whimpering children in a dental office or other specific situations.
     At the same time, most of us are capable of heroic levels of altruism and bravery in the service of those in distress. So we also have, within each of us, a wise loving stable grandparent, with a broad perspective based on timeless experience.
     Under stress, the fearful child tends to manifest. In good times - or - in a life-or-death emergency, the wise grandparent tends to manifest. With mindfulness training, we naturally mature from a place of fear, towards greater love & wisdom. In the "laboratory of the mind" that mindfulness practice provides, we learn to gently, fully accept & embrace our inner fearful child whenever it manifests, then with increasing stability, we become able to manifest & embody our wise grandparent in thoughts, speech & behavior.
     With continuous intelligent mindfulness practice, even under the worst possible external conditions, awareness, equanimity, kindness & joy can become reality. Our consciousness can evolve well beyond our current imagination (imagination being the product & reflection of our present level of consciousness). This lifelong journey of mindfulness is full of surprises.
     Some of us can find ourselves trapped for decades, or a lifetime, in our hurt inner child part, and require expert help from a trauma specialist to help us evolve into & stabilize in our mature adult part.
     Also see: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2013/08/381-each-moment-new-beginning.html

Mariko Klug