Friday, June 22, 2007

Pain:Pay Attention Inwards-Now


Pain is one experience no one wants to have and most run away from. Psychologists have this whole theory of "Pain Avoidance" where a human being will do anything to avoid pain.
Its so interesting how human beings make an emotional issue of everything, including our own bodies and its functioning. Let me give you an example.
You are driving your car. And you are low on fuel. How would you know ? The fuel meter would flash, right ? Is that a good sign or a bad sign ? You would say "Ofcourse thats a good sign !" Now imagine this. What would happen if you had no fuel meter in your car ? It would be a disaster. You would not only put your life at risk but also the lives of others.
The human body is a vehicle too. And we also have a "wellness meter". The wellness meter works on the principle of pain. Pain tells us, something needs attention. Or some part of the body is hurt. Now imagine this; If there is no "pain" ever. Some of you might dance with joy to even imagine a life without pain, but hold on. Imagine you stub your toe so bad that you cracked a bone and it bled. How would you know if there was no pain ? So if there is no pain, you would not know you are hurt. Your toe would continue to bleed and soon septic would set in, and the infection would spread to your leg and finally your whole body...and you dont want me to continue to where this ends :O)
Because there is pain, you pay attention until it heals.
Pain is a process in the system. Its a design. Acknowledge it. To avoid pain, is to rip off the fuel meter of your car.
Next time you are in pain, stop and pay attention inwards ! Respect that your body supports you in keeping you alive.

If pain by design, serves us, then why do people avoid pain ? Why does everyone run away from pain ? Your comments are welcome before i publish my opinion :O)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Pain avoidance is one of the bases of evolution, all living beings strive towards a better life devoid of pain. However, pain acceptance is a concept that only higher order living beings are capable of. It's a conscious effort, an introspective exercise and a self-actualizing path. If one can master pain as well as pleasure, one can truly reach immense heights of enrichment.

Anuj :) said...

WOw Coach :) That was such a beautiful post. I have never looked at pain in that way. From today, I am going to acknowledge every pain i go through, because it is a part of of my life :)
Thank you so much :)
I am sure if there were blog awards, your blog would have recieved all the awards.
:)

Nupur said...

People act either to move away from pain or to move towards gaining pleasure. Most of the time its to avoid pain as it hurts and something we just dont want to deal with.
Ankita has rightly put it that pain acceptance is a concept that only higher order living beings are capable of.

Unknown said...

Its my opinion that its a human tendency to avoid which is a fact of life, people are scared to face the reality & they assume that they cant do much about it so better avoid it. Its like if i want to change something, first i have to accept it but its difficult because what i want to change is not good & dont want to accept anything which is bad in me. I hope i make sense what i want to say. However priya, as usual your blog makes lot of sense to me.Thanks a lot :o)

Rob said...

i run away from pain because it hurts so much, ouch, :)

Vishal said...

People run away from pain coz we dont want to hurt and suffer..
often, we don't realize--unless we feel pain, we can't really appreciate pleasure..
thinking of pain as an indication to look inwards--to fix the bigger problem never occured to me. Thank you for the insight.
I guess a key word here would be "awareness" and to simply 'watch' our body, mind, thoughts..without running towards or away from..

Unknown said...

Hye priya jackpot m visitor number 500…….. yeepee!!!
Fight against pain, no one can run out of it, keep ur self healthy by eating proper food on time…….nd Exercise...

Unknown said...

Woooow i have a complete different view about pain now, i could have never thought of this theory in my lifetime if i would not have read your blog. Thank you so much

amrita somaya said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
amrita somaya said...

Hi!
I feel people avoid pain because they donot want to go through the emotional disturbance of confronting things that are wrong, or where they have erred.
I think one who acknowledges pain, and does something about it, is one courageous being.

Thanks for the insightful blog.