Pain seems to be a recurring theme for me in the last few years.
I’ve written before about Matt Kahn, whose teachings resonate strongly for me. He just released a video about pain that is both timely and hard for me to accept. He encourages us to consider pain as a spiritual call to awaken. Pain is not a sign of failure on our parts, but merely a call to wake up spiritually. The hardest part for me is to acknowledge that everything is in perfect divine order. Not that I haven’t heard or practiced the idea of challenges being divinely inspired, but to embrace life so completely that we accept each and every circumstance as divine and perfect. This means the war in Siria, climate change, my financial losses and every other difficult circumstance is exactly perfect as is. Sometimes I get stuck on this perspective. How about you?
Matt suggests, as do many other teachers, that the only way out of pain is to embrace it fully. The pain is helping us to release our judgments, grow and evolve spiritually. Pain is a call to faith. No matter what difficult circumstances or feelings we face, pain is asking us to release the distractions and return to our divinity and faith, trusting that all is in divine order. This perspective has been my block. I tend to think of pain and loss as a sign of failure on my part. How about you? Do you fall into the trap of judging yourself for having pain or challenges?
Here is Matt’s video on pain if you are interested.
Matt reminds us that people who are in pain attack others as an unconscious attempt to avoid their own pain. Therefore, what they most need is compassion. He suggests silently offering them the phrase “I acknowledge your pain.” Someone in pain can not be reasoned with, so don’t try to explain why they need to listen or change their ways. But they can and will respond to acknowledgment and compassion.
So I continue to work at embracing and healing the pain…
I offer this post not in search of answers, pity, or even compassion, but simply with the hope that it helps you deal with your challenges. Maybe Matt’s wisdom or my openness will in some way help to shine the light or ease the pain on your path.
blessings, Brad
writing to freedom 
There are so many different types of pain – physical, mental, emotional. It takes a very strong foundation to embrace pain in any of these domains. And I believe that it takes practice – sometimes gut-wrenching practice. But, I wholeheartedly agree with you, Brad, that when we find that inner strength to embrace everything we are presented with and see it as “perfect”, everything has the ability to change. Perspective – it’s an absolutely amazing and powerful tool of our psyche – perhaps one of the most underrated tools we have in our possession as human beings. Thank you, as always, for sharing such profound insights 😉
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Thanks for your enthusiastic support Dave. Perspective is very powerful and I need lots of reminders. My current state of my evolvement seems to be about learning how to embrace the pain and challenges as perfect. I’m definitely a work in progress. 🙂 blessings…
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Thank you very much for this. It helps 🙂
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I’m delighted that my post might help you Allison.
blessings, Brad
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Any shift to “embracing” pain or simply practicing mindfulness (which I know is high on your priority list!) can be a powerful shift in patterning – if we are willing to go through the pain of building new muscle and flexing a different set of responses. Not sure if that makes sense, but even the simple act of gratitude can totally alter my experience. I am often reminded of Victor Frankl whenever anyone mentions pain. It’s hard or me to get the self-pity going when I think of him. However, I also think pain can give us incredible gifts of mercy and compassion. It is in realizing my own deepest pain, and that pain like that can be shared by anyone, from a fellow blogger, to someone in front of me at the grocery store, it was in those realizations I learned to be so much kinder, and ideally, less self-centered.
I am also a huge fan of Anna Nimm’s work, especially about embracing the shadow as the key to discovering energy we once thought was lost, another interesting, liberating and empowering perspective to pain.
Thanks for sharing Matt, too. I listened to one of his free talks awhile back and it was definitely a powerful experience. So much to “experience” here on earth, right? It’s crazy.
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Thanks for diving into this post and sharing your heartfelt wisdom Amanda. Sometimes I can switch with gratitude. Other times I seem to need to go into the pain or just feel the emotions. And sometimes I simply get lost in them. I appreciate your compassion and willingness to embrace life fully. Anna Nimm is new to me. Maybe a new experience for me. 🙂
May you find many more beautiful experiences.
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Brad, this is such an interesting post ~ what you say here is so important “people who are in pain attack others as an unconscious attempt to avoid their own pain. Therefore, what they most need is compassion” as it is showing compassion to such people that can be so difficult. Great post to think about, especially this time of year.
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Thanks Randall. Of course, it’s much easier to understand than live. But I continue to practice my ability to care, offer compassion and live my ideals. And as you mentioned, this is a great time of year to practice. Thanks for adding your voice and care. May your holidays be filled with adventures and compassion.
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I think we all of us at times judge ourselves Brad as we allow our pains be they emotional or physical. to swamp our Aura.. Letting go has been one of my own hardest lessons in Life. and still I struggle .. Yet I know also that the pain we hang onto is of our own choosing.. We are the only ones who are hurting ourselves by hanging onto these emotional hurts… And sometimes our emotional hurts are what leads us to hurt physically for our Dis-ease of Mind then becomes the Disease of Body..
Once we learn to Let go.. and understand No one can hurt us but ourselves.. for we are the ones who allow words to wound. Once we learn to forgive and forgive ourselves also in the process… We Heal from within.. Embracing pain, sometimes means facing up to our fears…. and then just letting them go.. As we then trust in the Universal Plan.. as we allow the ‘Flow’ to embrace our lives.. 🙂
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So true Sue. I’ve experienced very similar to you and still have to be reminded to let go which is intimately connected to embracing the pain. The opposite of resisting the fears, challenges, etc. which as you stated is what creates the pain, illnesses and struggle. Thanks for the reminders. 🙂
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Yes to embracing our pain! being in the resistance of what is so causes us pain. We have forged through and taken on the “world” as it is in us, so being with it has us be released, connecting once again to our higher self. I just discovered how to connect to your page as I could not find the notifications page and you follow me on my old blog page! So find my new page here and connect so I can find u easier. staying in the flow heart to heart Robyn
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Hi Robyn, It’s very nice to hear from you. I’m still learning this lesson about embracing what is. As you mentioned, resisting only causes more pain and suffering. 🙂
Please include the link to your new page. It isn’t showing up on your comment. Blessings, Brad
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Those who can’t be reasoned with are off balance. I respect how you have strived to maintain emotional equilibrium in what has been such a difficult and long season, B. I hope things pan out with work and $ soon. A beautiful post.
Xx
D.
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Thanks D. I can relate to feeling off balance. I would like to find balance and start making better choices and actions, especially around finances and work. Thanks for your kind words and wishes, 🙂
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Call it synchronicity landing on your blog and reading this entry when I need it most. Matt Kahn’s ideology of pain and way out pain is intense in ways that it speaks truth (sometimes difficult truths) and imparts a perspective. Perspective is such a gift. When in pain, most people either apply band-aid solutions to wounds curing symptoms not the root cause; or, some people circumnavigate around pain all together. It takes a lot of mettle to acknowledge and embrace pain. The hard part is not to be judgmental to oneself because natural tendency is to find the culprit, the action(s) which has lead you to that pain. The other hard part is to blindly let go and have faith and accept that all this pain is divine order.
Thanks for sharing! The new.perspective has certainly been an eye opener and a game changer. Healing is a process.
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Hi Sabi. Welcome and thanks for sharing. I’m glad my post and Matt’s wisdom were of value to you. I’ve been learning to embrace my feelings, pain & situation more fully as a way to reclaim wholeness and peace. And I still need reminders and practice. Thanks for joining, Brad
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