Fire - pain ??? How can these be good things. There is far too much pain in the world as it is, but as usual I have a method to my madness. The first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism holds that "life is pain or suffering" also called "duhka." Pain is caused by desire or attachment to things, life, memories. This is the second noble truth. In order to be released from pain one must practice non-attachment - the third noble truth. Once one is able to practice non-attachment, generally a by product of mindful meditation, then one has commenced on the eight fold path to enlightenment - the fourth noble truth.
My truth is that I wake up every morning with pain, a by product of getting older with creaky joints.
Five years ago the kind of pain I live with now just flattened me. Even now there are some days I just can't pull back the covers. But now I know what to do and the truth is you manage it. The other aspect of dukha or suffering is that we humans are really stuck with it. We are stuck in the cycle of "samsara" - reality where pain is a given, unless we can break the karmic cycle and become bodhisattva or enlightened beings. When I meditate I've come to appreciate the chronic sciatic pain in my hip because it reminds me that I am alive and of this world. It is my samsara. Today Barbara Borysenko's meditation was to try and learn from pains, dissatisfactions and complaints. What do they have to teach me? What do I need to remember that I have rather than regret that I do not have? I suppose some day I'll be ready to let go of my pain and release myself from the grip of reality, but for now I'm going to stick with this planet, this plane of being.
Now that is a big commitment actually. Sitting with pain, being with pain and teaching others to do so is big part of what I do as a therapist. It's key to do grief work. Today a long time teenage client came in to tell me of a death in the family and I had to sit with him and help him to recognize the sadness, not just the anger and irritation which are easier tolerate. We as Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on pain relief and avoidance. It's become epidemic with opioids and ruined thousands of lives. In their June 2017 issue Consumer Reports published an incredibly responsible and valuable article on back pain and effective means of relief. It basically spells out that opioids do nothing for long term back pain or any kind of chronic pain because they become addictive and their effectiveness diminishes. What they did promote were Tai Chi, yoga, acupuncture, massage and chiropractic as well as general stretching and exercise as ways to help the body adjust to and handle to pain. The studies apparently show their a great diminishment of pain and sometimes recovery using these more old fashioned tried and true methods. Not something the AMA or the pharmaceutical industry wants to hear. CR is widely read and this is responsible journalism at a time when we have a public health crisis.
I went for my own dose of pain relief in the form of Reiki Circle tonight. The simple laying of hands and energy work have their own magical qualities which are hard to quantify. Then I was assaulted again on the radio driving home. 19 dead and over fifty injured in a suicide bombing at the stadium in Manchester, England. Most of the crowd were teenagers - children! When will it ever stop? Not as longs as we live this cycle of duhka - samsara. I grieve for the dead and for British society, which will no doubt experience a new wave of anti-Muslim hatred.
But I looked up at the locust tree in the rain when I got out of my car and even in the purple night I could see its blooms and smell the sweetness in the air. Amid the pain and suffering we have only to look for the sweetness and know that this too will pass as all things do.
My truth is that I wake up every morning with pain, a by product of getting older with creaky joints.
Five years ago the kind of pain I live with now just flattened me. Even now there are some days I just can't pull back the covers. But now I know what to do and the truth is you manage it. The other aspect of dukha or suffering is that we humans are really stuck with it. We are stuck in the cycle of "samsara" - reality where pain is a given, unless we can break the karmic cycle and become bodhisattva or enlightened beings. When I meditate I've come to appreciate the chronic sciatic pain in my hip because it reminds me that I am alive and of this world. It is my samsara. Today Barbara Borysenko's meditation was to try and learn from pains, dissatisfactions and complaints. What do they have to teach me? What do I need to remember that I have rather than regret that I do not have? I suppose some day I'll be ready to let go of my pain and release myself from the grip of reality, but for now I'm going to stick with this planet, this plane of being.
Now that is a big commitment actually. Sitting with pain, being with pain and teaching others to do so is big part of what I do as a therapist. It's key to do grief work. Today a long time teenage client came in to tell me of a death in the family and I had to sit with him and help him to recognize the sadness, not just the anger and irritation which are easier tolerate. We as Americans spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year on pain relief and avoidance. It's become epidemic with opioids and ruined thousands of lives. In their June 2017 issue Consumer Reports published an incredibly responsible and valuable article on back pain and effective means of relief. It basically spells out that opioids do nothing for long term back pain or any kind of chronic pain because they become addictive and their effectiveness diminishes. What they did promote were Tai Chi, yoga, acupuncture, massage and chiropractic as well as general stretching and exercise as ways to help the body adjust to and handle to pain. The studies apparently show their a great diminishment of pain and sometimes recovery using these more old fashioned tried and true methods. Not something the AMA or the pharmaceutical industry wants to hear. CR is widely read and this is responsible journalism at a time when we have a public health crisis.
I went for my own dose of pain relief in the form of Reiki Circle tonight. The simple laying of hands and energy work have their own magical qualities which are hard to quantify. Then I was assaulted again on the radio driving home. 19 dead and over fifty injured in a suicide bombing at the stadium in Manchester, England. Most of the crowd were teenagers - children! When will it ever stop? Not as longs as we live this cycle of duhka - samsara. I grieve for the dead and for British society, which will no doubt experience a new wave of anti-Muslim hatred.
But I looked up at the locust tree in the rain when I got out of my car and even in the purple night I could see its blooms and smell the sweetness in the air. Amid the pain and suffering we have only to look for the sweetness and know that this too will pass as all things do.
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| The Empire of Light - Renee Magritte |
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