body-health > what-we-need-to-learn-about-pain

that this pain is no longer needed, this warning signal has been acknowledged, can consequently lead to taking note of the real reason for the pain, such as: unhappiness (as an employee, as a husband, as a child, as a carer, as a role model, etc.) Or on the other hand, one can decide that at this moment, dealing with the real reason for the pain is beyond one’s strength. The great advantage at this point is still having achieved the awareness of the real mechanisms involved and having therefore discarded the need to blame the exterior for what one feels. That in itself is a major step forward, even when we decide to live with the pain. So we need to learn that pain is something our own system produces to alert us to dangers that are upsetting our balance, and that this alarm system is situated and functions within us.

But we already know that!

We already know that we only feel pain when our mind is ready to receive that message. A sports person deeply involved in an absorbing contest will not feel the pain of, sometimes grave, injuries until that person can detach him/herself from the encounter, until the brain is ready to gather the information and create the pain stimulus. It is not the physical injury which create the pain, it is the brain; the physical injury was already there, not causing any pain or discomfort, until the brain organised the pain. Other proof for this we find in general anaesthesia where severe physical injury is inflicted without causing any pain whatsoever. Similar results can be achieved under hypnosis. So, pain is not caused by the exterior, it is caused internally, by the brain.

Similarly, outside influences such as human relationships, circumstances, environment, etc. are not responsible for one’s pain. If they were then we would all suffer given the same influences, but we obviously don’t. Here also the pain is caused inside, by the brain. Complicated connections are made that lead us to believe this particular thing must be painful and hurtful. Again people prove to us that walking barefooted across hot burning coal does not only not have to be painful, but also does not have to leave any marks on the skin. In other words, even the skin does not believe that this is painful!

Now that we have rediscovered what we already knew, we better start believing it fast. Aren’t we running out of patience with pain? The growing number of people screaming to the medical profession and related therapists for pain relief form an army of evidence that we are desperately in need of finding out what pain is really all about and what the mechanisms involved are. We need to leave behind the blame and guilt that we spread all around us and change it into a beautiful opportunity to take control of our lives and grow into "sensitive" children.

(published with permission in writing from:http://freespace.virgin.net/ahcare.qua/index.html)