I can’t compare my experiences with yours, of course, and yet I do know what it means to come face to face with debilitating pain, and so I can share how I dealt with that challenge in my past (several times, actually) …

As far as dealing with the pain itself, I have found only one thing really helps — serving others.  Rest and/or pain medications do the trick on a short-term, “band-aid” basis, and yet the only way I have found to effectively deal with chronic pain is to do the one thing my ego does not want to do: get up and go be Kind to someone else.   I could go into the why and the how of the way this functions physiologically, and yet such a discourse isn’t really necessary.  After all, it might not even work for you — you’ll have to go and try it out for yourself.

Just as importantly, such a choice also takes care of the whole sense of “meaninglessness” that so often accompanies times of trouble … Just remember the oft-forgotten Truth that in those times when you are hurting the most, the smallest deeds of Caring become HUGE.  It is not necessary for us to be able to do what we once did; to be as strong or as clever or as effective … Rather, it is enough that we simply get up out of bed, walk (or drive) a few hundred yards (or less) to the nearest downtrodden person, and extend them Kindness during our own moments of suffering.

Heck, if you are really hurting, it is enough to get up our of bed and make a Kind phone call to someone you know is having a hard time.  Regardless of how it feels for you when you do so, it is impossible to feel self-loathing or meaningless while actively Caring for another person, especially in those times when it is difficult to do so!

Filed under: simple Answers to tough Questions by Scaughdt