The Empowerment of Pain
Being human, we can’t avoid painful experiences. Depending on the severity, pain has the ability to cripple our confidence and self-perception. But herein, as with most everything, we are in a place of choice.
The secret to coping with emotional pain is predicated on our understanding that we can choose how to cope with that pain. Once received, the pain now belongs to us which means we can do what we want with it. We have agency over the pain. We can choose to:
offer the pain back to the initial giver
project the pain onto some other unsuspecting person
cloak ourself in the pain so we can stay defeated
transform the pain into experience, a lesson learned
tuck the pain away in our back pocket and pull it out when it feels useful to look at it
bury it under our favourite tree and let Mother Nature absorb it into her vast healing network
burn it in the cleansing flames of a small fire
offer the pain to the Universe to carry for us
use the experience of pain to gain compassion and empathy
do anything our heart desires with it
Thus, in what may seem intuitively backward, owning the pain is empowering. Will it be easy to do? No. It takes will and strength and a belief that this unwelcome intrusion is not ours to carry.